The species Elaeocarpus sphaericus (Rudraksha) is a religious, medicinally important threatened tree of India. An efficient micropropagation protocol has been developed from nodal explants of this plant species collected from north-east India for large scale production of planting material at favourable sites within the country. Best shoot initiation occurred in MS medium supplemented with 2.2μM BA+2.2μM Kn in combination. Addition of Casein Hydrolysate (CH) (100mg/L) increased the shoot number. Microshoots excised and subcultured in 2.0μM BA further enhanced growth and multiplication. The shoot cultures were maintained in this concentration for 2years with subculturing at 6weeks interval. MS medium containing 5.0μM NAA was most effective for rooting. Successfully acclimatized plants (80%) showed normal growth under suitable habitat conditions.
The present investigation was conducted to record variation of seed and seedling morphological characteristics and germination among eighteen provenances of Quercus leucotrichophora. These traits are important for improving the planting stock material in hand. Significant variations (p<0.05) were recorded for different morphological parameters of seed and seedling among the different provenances. Seed weight was the most variable character among morphological characteristics. Shoot/root ratio and root growth were more variable characters among the seedling traits. Altitude had significant positive relationship with seed weight, seed length and germination per cent. Soil pH was positively correlated with seed weight and germination. These parameters could be used as important criteria for seed source selection. Broad-sense heritability (h2) calculated for different seed and seedling traits showed a considerable portion of genetic variation suggesting the possibility of rapid genetic improvement of these traits. Furthermore, this variability appeared to be geographically structured and would be mainly genetically controlled. Thus the results of present study should be helpful for growing planting material of this potential tree species in afforestation of subtropical to temperate region of Garhwal Himalaya, India.
The extensive use of Elaeocarpus species in Ayurveda or as ethnomedicinal plants and their economic use as timber plants, have resulted in most of them getting threatened and enlisted in the Red Data Book or the IUCN Red List of threatened plants. The present review focuses on the conservation status of important Elaeocarpus species of India in view of their medicinal importance and the efforts required, thereof, in future.
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