Division, Growth habit and Ethnobotany of Sanctified Plants of Shivalik Hills of Himachal Pradesh, India

Sanctified Plants are repositories of our rich biodiversity. Through which the indigenous people are still preserving their traditions, rich culture, and customs. Sanctified Plant diversity has been protected by the local ethnic or indigenous people and rural communities as abode of deities, special religious importance, and as natural vegetation on religious and cultural grounds. Sacred groves are an age-old tradition of environmental conservation depending upon indigenous knowledge, cultural and religious beliefs. According to the religious belief the indigenous people of Hamirpur District of Himachal Pradesh ‘Sanctified Plants’ from ages. This paper gives an overview of the division, growth habit, ornamental, medicinal, spiritual, material-culture, crop, edible, horticulture, and ethnobotanical status of sacred groves in Hamirpur District of Himachal Pradesh. The sacred groves shelter medicinal plants of great value not only for the primary health care of the villages, but also for the modern pharmacopoeia. The Sanctified Plant diversity are facing threats from invasion of weeds. There is an urgent need to conserve these sacred groves.