Seed Physiological Studies of Knema attenuata

Western Ghats, being one of the global hotspots of biodiversity and this region known to host around 2463 angiosperm taxa of which one third are endemic. Each plant may possess one or the other medicinal properties. Potential discovery and formulation of new drugs have led to increased demand on wild medicinal plants all over the world. An estimate of 61% of medicinal and aromatic plants collected from the forest of Western Ghats are in trade. This region has many unique habitats like Myristica swamps, one of the most primeval and highly threatened ecosystems of the Western Ghats, these ecosystems are virtually living museums of ancient life. Most of the plants in this area are belonging to Myristicaceae family and have been reported to be medicinally important and these species (as wild nutmugs) are over exploited for seed aril, widely used in commercial and medicinal applications. Knema attenuata is one of the important medicinal tree species in the Myristica swamp of Western Ghats and the present study makes an effort to understand the physiological and biochemical parameters responsible for seed development, maturation, desiccation and germination of Knema attenuata.