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S. Kala*1, H.R. Meena1, I. Rashmi1, Anita Kumawat1, Ashok Kumar1 and Shakir Ali
*1ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Kota-324 002,
Rajasthan, India
Email: kalaforestry@gmail.com
Received-18.08.2026, Revised-12.09.2026, Accepted-28.09.2026
Abstract: One of the key environmental benefits of sustainable resource management strategies in any type of ecosystem is the revival of biodiversity. Due to substantial biotic and abiotic interference from open grazing and falling, the natural vegetation of non-rehabilitated degraded ravine lands was extremely limited in distribution and diversity. Despite this, there is a dearth of information on the variety of medicinal plants found in rehabilitated ravine regions, both treated and untreated. The goal of the current study is to investigate the native flora under the Cassia auriculata-based land-use system in the Chambal ravines in the Kota district (Rajasthan) in terms of plant diversity, distribution, and ethnomedical applications. An account of 67 species observed denoting 38 families of plant kingdom in the rehabilitated study area. The documented indigenous plant species mostly belong to the plant families of Euphorbiaceae, Asteraceae, Apocynaceae, SolanaceaeandCaesalpiniaceae, which have high drought tolerance capacity and the ability to grow under harsh environments. The maximum revival of native medicinal understory flora was observed in the Cassia auriculata-based rehabilitated lands. Rehabilitation/restoration/ woody shrubs may foster/facilitate revival/reappearance of valuable native medicinal flora through litter addition and residual moisture retention using soil moisture conservation measures in the study sites. Hence, crucial attention to proper woody plant species selection is essential for rehabilitation and enrichment of ravine biodiversity. Further, implementing appropriate conservation measures is highly needed to ensure the augmentation of indigenous medicinal flora under this resource poor region for sustainable ravine land utilization.
Keywords: Ravine, Rehabilitation, Diversity, Ethnomedicinal, Ethnovetetinary, Conservation
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