The present study was designed to evaluate the antidiabetic and antioxidant potential of methanolic extract of Zanthoxylum armatum leaves using in vitro approaches. The concentration of plant extract that inhibited 50% (IC50) of alpha amylase was found to be 89.37±4.68 μg/ml which is higher than standard. Results of this study shows that 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging test show high radical scavenging activity as compared to hydrogen peroxide scanvenging method with IC50 Value of 57.83 μg/ml and 79.13 μg/ml, respectively. Plant extract found to exhibit enormous amount of phenols and flavonoid content i.e., 140.71 mg GAE/g and 88.53 mg of Quercetin/g of extract respectively. Further phytochemical analysis revealed that plant exhibit glycosides, alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, saponin and tannin that are frequently implicated as having antidiabetic effects. Elemental analysis revealed the presence of essential elements ‘Mg’, ‘Mn’, ‘Zn’, ‘Fe’, ‘K’, ‘P’, ‘Ca’, ‘Cu’, ‘Mo’ and ‘Ni’ known to play role in regulating blood glucose. It could be speculated that the observed antidiabetic activity of Z. armatum might be related to the presence of these phytochemicals, phenolic compounds as well as mineral elements which found to be the important constituent of Z. armatum. These results indicate that Z. armatum could be an excellent source of natural antioxidants and exhibited antidiabetic activity.

Wild edible plants are used as a source of food by local people where they still rely on natural resources to meet their daily needs. The study was conducted in the rural communities of the Shimla district to document wild edible plants and their edible uses known to local people. The study documented 103 wild edible plant species belonging to 75 genera and 46 families. Rosaceae is the most dominant family with 18 species occupying 17 % of the total use reports. Of the reported plants 43% were used as fruits, 42% as vegetables and remaining have used as juice, gums, spices and condiments. As many as 74 ways of consumption methods shows a Fidelity level (FL) of more than 80%. The use category of vegetables shows highest degree of consensus factor followed by fruit category. Horticultural land expansion is the major threat to the natural habitat of wild edible plants followed by overgrazing. Field visits to various villages in 16 regions of the study area were carried out in different phases from May 2015- September 2018. A total of 102 informants were involved in field investigation and a semi-structured questionnaires and participatory rural appraisal method were used to analyze and study the traditional wild edible plants.