Medicinal plant resources in Skuru watershed of Karakoram wildlife sanctuary and their uses in traditional medicines system of Ladakh, India

India is considered as one of the leading countries in the world regarding the wealth of traditional knowledge systems for the use of plant species. The country is blessed with the rich and diverse heritage of traditional medicinal systems like Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Sowa-Rigpa. Sowa-Rigpa is also known as Tibetan medicine system in Western countries. It is one of the oldest/ancient surviving and thoroughly documented medical traditions/wisdom of the world. It has been widely practiced in Himalayan regions of India, Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, some parts of China, and few parts of Soviet Union. In India, this traditional medicines system is practiced in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, Lahoul and Spiti (Himachal Pradesh), Sikkim, Darjeeling (West Bengal) and Arunachal Pradesh.1 In Ladakh, Sowa-Rigpa is also known as Amchi medicine system. Most of the population in Ladakh is Buddhist and they depend on the Amchi system of medicine, which has been in vogue for a long time and widely in practice. It offers fascinating knowledge of the ancient medicinal system.2 Medicinal plants of this region can open opportunities for economic growth in the rising global market. It has been understood further, medicinal plants of the trans-Himalaya, offer the favorable position in having considerably more prominent potential outcomes of giving novel bio-molecules in perspective of the natural pressure.3 These medicinal plant resources offer alternative remedies along with great opportunities for the generation of employment, income and foreign exchange for developing nations.4