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Review on Current Status of Betula utilis: An Important Medicinal Plant from Himalaya

Irum Safdar, Yamin Bibi, Mubashir Hussain, Muhammad Iqbal, Hafiza Saira, Saba Shaheen, Nida Tahir, and Hira Mehboob

The present medicinal flora is at risk due to different high human activities across the world. Betula utilis species is distributed in Himalayan range. The over use of Betula utilis is not only for medicinal purposes but also for basic needs of life i.e. for food, feed, shelter and making different items of daily usage leads to reduce its population. In this review the percentage of excess exploitation in the near future is mentioned with explaining its uses. Conservation status of Betula utilis is not clear due to which its risk of extinction is not understandable up till now. Major threats to Betula utilis includes over harvesting, deforestation, erosion, grazing, global warming and pathogen attack. These threats can be overcome by sustainable utilization, micropropagation, in situ and ex situ conservation as well as reducing the human population size, and conservation of Betula utilis species in botanical gardens.