Polygonatum cirrhifolium Royle (Meda), a herb belonging to the Liliaceae family, is known for its medicinal, cultural and ethno-botanical uses. However, due to its great market potential, it is harvested and grown in an uncontrolled way; overexploitation has caused the decline of the herb from its natural habitat. Since finding new organic treatments can help conserve the plant, a 2-year field experiment was undertaken to study the effect of different organic fertilizers and the nature of nursery beds on the survival, morphological growth and yield of this plant. The observations were recorded in 15-day intervals. The results show that yield was lower in control beds when compared with forest litter, farmyard manure and vermicompost in all type of beds prepared in rows, furrows and plain. The yield was highest at beds located at plantation with furrows which were supplemented with forest litter. Thus, it can be concluded that the cultivation of P. cirrhifolium is optimal in beds with rows and furrows (plantation in furrows) and supplemented with forest litter. In addition, composted organic material also improves both soil quality and fertility and regulates water. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on ex situ conservation of P. cirrhifolium from Kumaun Himalaya.

Microstylis wallichii Lindl. is a Rasayana and belongs to the "Astverga". It is an important medicine traditionally known since Vedic period but study on its phytoconstituents is very limited. Metal content and volatile constituents in M. wallichii (family Orchidaceae) collected from Uttarakhand were analyzed by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer and GC and GC-MS respectively. Chemical analysis revealed that wild M. wallichii contained 6.48 ppm Cu,

Natural populations of Polygonatum verticillatum in Kumaun Himalaya were surveyed for population studies, habitat assessment and threat status. This research reveals density of individuals and area occupied were low as compared to other species of the region, indicating habitat loss and heavy exploitation. Status was determined on a site-to-site basis for the entire Kumaun region. Based on species occurrence in selected areas, the species were identified as critically endangered to endangered in different areas. Frequency of P. verticillatum ranged between 50 and 80% at different population sites. Distribution of the species was between 50 and 80% indicating contiguous distributional range at most of the sites and random distributional range at Mukteshwer and Gagar. Density of P. verticillatum was highest (4.40 plant m-2) in way to Kafani and lowest (2.60 plant m-2) in Bhaman gupha. Total basal cover (TBC) was also found highest (0.91 cm 2 m-2) in way to Kafani and lowest (0.35 cm 2 m-2) in Bhaman gupha. Important value index (IVI) was found highest (51.68) in Munsyari and lowest (28.84) in Khati. Concentration of dominance (Cd) for the region showed a slight variation, with a range between 0.30 and 0.10. This may be attributed to the narrow range of distribution, habitat restriction and dominance of some species.

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Hedychium spicatum Buch.-Ham. belongs to family Zingiberaceae. It is known for its many medicinal uses. Due to great market potential of the plant, it is harvested in uncontrolled way causing the decline of the herb from its natural habitat. Presently, its status in nature is not good. Thus, there is need of its in situ as well as ex situ conservation and propagation. The present study was conducted on different trials with different organic fertilizers and types of nursery beds to develop a need based agrotechnique for mass scale cultivation of the plant in the climatic condition of Ranikhet, Uttarakhand.