Traditional Knowledge in Sealing Reassessment Gaps of Threatened Species: an Example of a Grass from Northern Western Ghats of India

Floristic and taxonomic community may miss out certain species from their surveys resulting in treating them under threatened categories based on dearth of representations in collections. However, such plants are likely to be recognized adequately by traditional knowledge if these plants have some known utilities. Knowledge about plant resources with forest dwelling human communities is a key constituent of their traditional knowledge, and harnessing natural resources sustainably has been a part of their lifestyle for centuries. We discuss here an example of a grass Dichanthium jainii (Deshp. & Hemadri) Deshp., endemic to Sahyadri, Northern Western Ghats, which is placed under threatened plant category Endangered (EN) owing to its underrepresentation in collections. However, the plant is used by local inhabitants of Northern Western Ghats as a roof thatching material for many generations. This grass is not only conserved by them in situ, but also planted for domestic use by every household. The paradoxical situation of its threat status, based on herbarium studies, and its much larger extent of occurrence in reality, is a result of overlooking traditional knowledge in taxonomic surveys. This paper appeals that traditional knowledge can also be taken as one of the sources while reassessing status of threatened plants.