An overview of the genus Anemone L. (Ranunculaceae) in India

The present paper documents the genus Anemone L. (Ranunculaceae) from India. A total of 26 taxa (which includes 24 species, one subspecies and one variety) has been recorded from Indo Himalayas. Western Himalaya is endowed with 9 taxa, Eastern Himalaya with 8 taxa, while 9 are common to both the flanks. Three species are present in Northeast India which are common to IHR and one species has also been reported from Western Ghats. This genus constitutes flowering plants of high altitude and maximum diversity has been observed between 2000–3000 m asl. The genus possesses high medicinal potential and needs urgent assessment of taxonomic and conservation status for its sustainable utilization.


Introduction
The genus Anemone L. stands out as one of the largest genera in the family Ranunculaceae representing more than 200 species worldwide (1). The genus is divided into 15 Subgenera, 23 Sections, 4 Subsections and 23 Series, under which 200 species including 20 subspecies and 27 varieties have been reported (2). Anemone is mainly distributed in the temperate zones of Northern hemisphere but few taxa have also been reported from Southern hemisphere (3) and the maximum diversity has been observed from subtemperate to subalpine zones of Asia, Europe, Japan, and North America. The word Anemone has originated from the Greek word "anemos" meaning "the wind". On this basis, the genus is commonly known as "windflower". It is morphologically and phytochemically related to Pulsatilla, Clematis and Hepatica.
Anemone is a perennial herb having basal leaves and erect or prostrate stems. Leaves are compound with lobed and sublobed, parted, or undivided leaf blades. The involucral leaves are various in number and form, sometimes reduced and bract-like. Flowers are usually actinomorphic possessing 4-27 sepals produced singly or in umbels, or in cymes of 2-9 flowers, above a cluster of leaf-or sepal-like bracts. Sepals vary in colour having different shades of white.
Stamens are numerous; pistils constitute one ovule; fruits achene, sometimes glabrous or tomentose; few to many. Achenes have various types of morphology which varies from species to species.
Most species of Anemone are diploid with basic chromosome number n=7 or 8 but some of them are polyploids (49,50). Genus possesses high medicinal potential that has been used in folk medicine and ethnomedicine in India, Korea, America, Mongolia, Europe, China etc (Table 1).
In India, approximately 26 taxa of Anemone are found in diverse habitats of Indian Himalayan Region, some Northeastern states and Tamil Nadu in Western Ghats (Fig. 1).

Methodology
The present study on the genus Anemone from India is based on literature surveys, on Indian Himalaya, North eastern states and Western Ghats. Indian Himalaya Region situated at 27°50' -37°06' N and 72°30' -97°25' E covers an area of ca 4,19,873 km 2 with 2500 km length and 240 km width. The region of Northeast covers ca 8% (262179 km 2 ) of the total geographical area of India that lies between 21°34′ N to 29°50′ N latitude and 87°32′ E to 97°52′ E longitude (54,55). Western Ghats lies between 8°20' -8°40' North latitude 73°77' East longitude covering an area of about 160000 km 2 (56). Different species of Anemone have been listed alphabetically with altitude, distribution (in India as well as World) along with flowering and fruiting seasons. The species of Anemone are calculated and computated in state wise representation. For enumeration of different taxa, Himalayan Region (HR) is divided into Eastern Himalaya (EH) and Western Himalaya (WH). The EH of India includes the states of West Bengal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh whereas WH includes Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The EH occurs at lower altitude than the WH. The eastern region shows high rainfall over lower elevation areas (below ~1000 m AMSL) whereas western region exhibits high rainfall over higher elevation areas (below ~1000 m AMSL) (60). The average annual rainfall of Western Ghats varies between 3000-4000 mm. Some Anemone species are present in two Northeast Indian states as in Meghalaya and Nagaland and also in Tamil Nadu of Western Ghats.

Results and Discussion
In India, Anemone is represented by 26 taxa (24 species, 1 subspecies and 1 variety) recorded from Indian Himalayan Region, NE India and Western Ghats of South India (Table 2). Data analysis shows that the maximum diversity of Anemone taxa is found in the Himalayan region from where all 26 taxa have been reported, out of these 9 taxa are known to occur in the Western Himalaya, 8 taxa in the Eastern Himalaya where as 9 taxa are present in both the flanks (Fig. 2). Western Ghats has distribution of only one species i.e. Anemone rivularis Buch.-Ham. ex DC.  Taxonomic studies on the genus Anemone from India started with the Hooker's work (5), where he described 15 species from Indian subcontinent. Thereafter, 17 species with several infra-specific taxa have been reported (8). Out of these taxa, six have been synonymized by various workers and two taxa namely A. obtusiloba var. potentilloides and A. During the study, it was found that a few taxa are endemic to IHR at global level such as A. howellii to Arunachal Pradesh, A. obtusiloba var. potentilloides to J&K, A. raui to UK (8,59).

Conclusion
Owing to high medicinal value, Anemone is one of the most traded plants in the indigenous drug industry. Various natural and anthropogenic factors which including soil erosion, landslide and over exploitation by several pharmaceutical industries and local health system for its highly potential medicinal compounds pose a direct threat to the population in the wild resulting in its speedy decline. Day-by-day increasing demand in current scenario needs proper assessment, conservation and alternative approach for large scale cultivation by developing agritechnique for the upliftment of the local people.
The present paper provides phenology, taxonomic status, exact distribution and medicinal potential of Anemone in India which would be of immense importance for other researchers in locating the plants for further investigation of newer molecules useful for humankind in different aspects.