Dr. Vijay Vishnu Wagh

Principal Scientist

Research Interests

Research aims of our lab is to generate and document biodiversity data and use these data to establish and test hypotheses of relationships between taxa or areas. In doing so our labs aim is to help meet society’s demands on taxonomy as articulated in the CBD, its work programme and cross-cutting issues. Foci for this are the plant families Geraniaceae, Urticaceae, Fabaceae, plant diversity assessment of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and North East India. We are also working on documentationof the traditional knowledge from the tribal community of Madhya Pradeshand Maharashtra for identification of the potential plant resources for livelihood enhancement.

Dr. Vijay Vishnu Wagh

Principal Scientist

Research Summary

The main research interest of our lab is in floristic diversity assessment, monographic and revisionary studies of angiospermic taxa, conservation status assessment of RET species and documentation of traditional knowledge. The floristic diversity assessment of Dima Hasao district of Assam has been completed representing more than 600 species. In systematics study of genus Geranium total of 1100 samples were collected from 5 states of Indian Himalayan region (Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh). Total 46 localities has been visited during these explorationsthat resulted into 17 species of genus Geranium and further identification is in progress. Geranium rubifolium is collected after 179 years from India. Nomenclature problem of Boehmeria densiflora Hook. & Arn. and Geranium grevilleanum Wall. has been resolved.

Extensive field survey were conducted in different region of Maharashtra i.e. Vidarbha region, Khandesh region and Western Ghat, more than 2500 plant samples were collected for the development of the Herbarium at Chandrapur, Maharashtra. For the development of the value added product from gum and resin we have collected samples from more than 12 species (Commiphora wightii, Butea monosperma, Acacia nilotica, Buchanania cochinchinesis, Gardenia gummifera, Sterculia urens, Boswellia serrata, Pinus roxburghii, Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, Bombax ceiba, etc.) from different geographic regions of India.

Traditional knowledge has been documented from the tribal community of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra for the development of value added productsand livelihood enhancement. In western Madhya Pradesh, total 102 invasive alien plant species belonging to 38 families has been used by the Bhil and Bhilala tribe for curing 37 types of various ailments. They also used 106 aniospermic plant species for curing 21 different types of dermatological disorders. There are some new sacred groves has been identified during filed exploration in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. In Nanded district of Maharashtra one sacred grove namely Farid Baba was identified to study the medicinal plant diversity and documented 110 medicinal plant species used by the local community for curing 42 types of ailments. 5 new sacred groves has been first time discovered from western Madhya Pradesh, the traditional knowledge of the medicinal plant occurring in groves has been documented as well its conservation status of the RET plant species has been assessed. Screened/ identified 26 plant species for HCH remediation. For ex-situ conservation of the threatened medicinal plant species the germplasm of 6 species planted in CSIR-NBRI Botanical Garden.

Dr. Vijay Vishnu Wagh

Principal Scientist

Publications

– Wagh V.V. and Jain A.K. 2015. Inventory of ethnobotanicals and other systematic proceduresfor regional conservation of medicinal and sacred plants. 2015. Environment System and Decision. 35:143–156.

– Wagh V.V. and Jain A.K. 2014. Ethnomedicinal Uses of Underground Plant Parts in Jhabua District of Madhya Pradesh, India. Advances in Biological Research. 8 (4): 151-156.

– Wagh, V.V.,Datt B. and Husain, T. 2015.An assessment of Diversity of genus Geranium L. (Geraniaceae) in India with special emphasis on Indian Himalayan Region. Journal of Biodiversity management and Forestry. 4:2.

– Wagh, V.V. and Jain, A.K. 2015. New addition to the flora of Madhya Pradesh, India. Annals of plant Sciences. 4(12): 1233-1235.

– Wagh, V.V. and Jain, A.K. 2015. Invasive alien flora of Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh, India. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation. 7 (4): 227-237

– Wagh, V.V. 2016. Preliminary study on Ethno-medicinal plants used for treating malarial fever in Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh, India. International Journal of Bioassay. Vol 5(7): 4672-4675

– Wagh, V.V. and Jain, A.K. 2016. Conservation status of threatened ethno-medicinal plants in western Madhya Pradesh, India. Journal of Biodiversity Management and forestry 5:2.

– Wagh, V.V. and Jain, A.K. 2016. Ethnomedicine for curing Jaundice in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. Ethnobotany 28: 53-59.

– Wagh,V.V., Deshmukh,V.P. and Rajurkar A.V. 2017. Sacred grove and its potential role in ethnomedicinal system and conservation of biodiversity in Mahur, Nanded district, Maharashtra, India. Ethnobotany. 29:22-34.

– Wagh, V.V. and Jain, A.K. 2018. Status of ethnobotanical invasive plants in western Madhya Pradesh. South African Journal of Botany. 114:171-180 .

– Wagh, V.V. and Jain, A.K. 2016. Ethnomedicine for curing Jaundice in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. Ethnobotany. 28: 53-59.

– Wagh, V.V. and Hurrah, I.A. 2018. Lectotypification of Boehmeria densiflora Hook. & Arn. (Urticaceae) and Hooker’s and Arnott’s sets of duplicates from Captain Beechey’s expedition. Kew Bulletin 73:50.

– Wagh, V.V. and Hurrah, I.A. 2019. Lectotypification of Geranium grevilleanum Wall. (Geraniaceae). Phytotaxa 395(3): 248-250

– Wagh, V.V. and Jain, A.K. 2019. Healing sacred forest in western Madhya Pradesh. Current Science 116 (7): 1060-1061

– Wagh, V.V. and Jain, A.K. 2019. Arboreal Ethnoflora of western Madhya Pradesh. Indian Journal of Natural products and Resources. 10(1): 68-80.

– Wagh, V.V. and Jain, A.K. 2018. Ethnopharmacological survey of plants used by Bhil and Bhilala ethnic community in dermatological disorders in western Madhya Pradesh, India. Journal of Herbal Medicine. Accepted on 26 Sept. 2018.