Diversity of Indian Garcinia – a Medicinally Important Spice Crop in India

Abstract

The genus Garcinia has over 200 species distributed in the tropics of the world. About 35 species occur in India, many of which are endemic and economically important, with immense medicinal properties. Garcinia is the source for a natural diet ingredient Hydroxy Citric Acid (HCA) which is an anti obesity compound. However lack of awareness, coupled with habitat destruction, is leading to genetic erosion of this forest resource and many species are threatened. Work done in India, mainly at Indian Institute of Spices Research, Calicut (IISR), on survey and collection of Garcinia genetic resources; development of GIS (Geographic Information System) prediction models for locating the probable new areas of diversity; biochemical and molecular characterization for estimating the genetic diversity; identifying genotypes with high HCA content; and developing micro propagation protocols for multiplying the unique endangered species for their conservation and utilization, was summarized in this paper.