Molecular characterization of a few anticancer drug yielding plants

Abstract

India, known for its rich heritage of biological diversity, has so far documented newlineover 91,200 species of animals and 45,968 species of plants, out of this about 20,000 newlinespecies of higher plants and one third of it being endemic and 500 species are categorized newlineto have medicinal value (Mandal, 1999; Arora, 1988). Besides, it is recognized as one of 3 the eight Vavilovian centres of origin and diversity of crop plants, having more than 300 wild ancestors and close relatives of cultivated plants, which are still evolving under natural conditions. The flora of India is both rich and diverse due to wide range of variations in climate, altitude and ecological habitats. Indian flora is mainly concentrated in four major centers of floristic diversity viz. Himalayas, Western Ghats (and Sri Lanka), newlineIndo Burma (NE India and Andaman Islands), and Sundaland ( Nicobar Islands) which are newlinea part of four of the thirty four identified Global Biodiversity Hotspots . The Indian flora accounts for about eleven per cent of the total plant species of the world. It ranks among the top ten species-rich nations and shows high endemism newline