Diversity of Ethnomedicinally important Mangrove species of Maharashtra
Gauri Soman
Department of Botany, Maharshi Dayanand College, Parel,Mumbai-400012 (India) email- drgssoman@rediffmail.com
ABSTRACT
Mangrove ecosystem is one of the world’s most productive ecosystems supporting genetically diverse communities of terrestrial and aquatic flora and fauna. They provide variety of direct and indirect benefits to human beings.Mangroove plants are found to have varied medicinal values and are used in traditional medicine by locals dewelling around coastal line of Maharashtra. However due to urbanization and natural calamities there is a threat of loss and imbalance of mangrove and coastal ecosystem. The need for stability, conservation and management of mangrove ecosystem of coastal Maharashtra with special reference to their ethnomedicinal uses is highlighted in this paper.