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The spread of alien plant species in bio-rich mountains calls for documenting their distribution across altitudes. The present study, therefore, analysed altitudinal distribution of alien species richness in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh and tested the null hypothesis that-alien species richness in Himalaya is independent of altitude. For this, information on alien species was collated from published literature. As the zone above 5000 m is mostly snow-covered and devoid of major vegetation in the Himalaya, the altitudinal range from 300-5000 m was divided into bands of 100 m each. If a species was reported occurring from 300 to 600 m, then it's presence was counted in the 300-400 m, 400-500 m, and 500-600 m bands. All the species occurring in these individual 100 m bands were tabulated. For comparisons of alien species richness along altitude, five altitudinal groups were identified (>1000, 1000-2000, 2000-3000, 3000-4000 and 4000-5000). Their richness across and between these group was statistically compared using R. Alien species richness was maximum in the 1000-1100 m band, and significantly varied along the altitudinal gradient. Life form analyses revealed the absence of alien climbers above 2500 m. Alien species distribution patterns are in contrast to the native species distribution whose maximum richness is reported at mid-altitudes (2000-2500 m). This may be because most of the alien species are tropical in origin and have been introduced at lower altitudes. Interestingly, alike the native species, members of Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Poaceae dominated the alien flora along the entire altitudinal gradient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Essential oil fromJuniperus communisneedles were examined in three different seasons (spring, rainy and winter) throughout the year for the analysis of yield and chemical composition. Volatiles of the needles were obtained by hydrodistillation process using clevenger type apparatus. The essential oil yield in all the seasons was not significantly changed and was found 0.29% (rainy), 0.3% (winter) and 0.33% (spring). Chemical compositions of the oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS techniques on DB-5 capillary column resulted in identification of twenty-eight components. Identified components accounted for 91.1–93.1% of the total oils. The major class of compounds identified in present essential oil was monoterpene hydrocarbons (51.9–63.7%) with sabinene (30.1–37.1%) as the major constituent. Other compounds characterized in all the seasons were limonene (11.3–15.7%), 4-terpineol (9.1–10.5%), α-pinene (3.6–7.9%), δ-cadinene (3.7–4.6%), cis-sabinene hydrate (3.6–4.2%), myrcene (2.5–3.1%), α-terpinene (2.3–2.8%) and manool (1.3–2.2%). In this experiment winter was found to be most suitable time for the isolation of sabinene and limonene. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The essential oil ofHedychium spicatumrhizome is used in perfumery and medicines. The rhizome is reported to be stomachic, carminative, a bronchodilator stimulant and a tonic. For studying seasonal variation of the composition of its volatiles, rhizomes ofH. spicatumwere collected from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT), Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India. To study the spatial diversity in essential oil content and composition, the rhizomes were collected from five different locations of Himachal Pradesh. Essential oils obtained by hydro-distillation were evaluated for their chemical composition by gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analyses. Twenty-two compounds were identified from the rhizome oil with major components 1,8-cineole, β-eudesmol, β-pinene and 10-epi–γ-eudesmol. All the essential oil samples were evaluated for their antioxidant activity by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity. The essential oil extracted from the rhizomes collected from Biling had highest antioxidant activity; hence, it was also tested for cytotoxic activity against C-6, A549 and SiHa cell lines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]