Threatened Flora of Jammu and Kashmir State

The chapter provides an updated synthesis of threatened flora of Jammu and Kashmir state. Till date, a total of 429 species of seed plants, belonging to 256 genera in 87 families, have been listed under different threat assessment studies in the State. Among the 429 species assessed, there are 24 species which have been recognized as critically endangered, 88 endangered, 75 vulnerable, 3 near threatened, and 32 least concern as per threat assessment categories currently recognized by the IUCN, the remaining species belonging to rare and indeterminate categories used by previous workers. In addition, several species are noticed as rare and need to be categorized for threat, while in case of several other species previously reported from this region but not having been collected in recent times, their probable extinction/misidentification needs to be ascertained. This chapter highlights the knowledge gaps in the threatened flora of this Himalayan State and proposes a globally standardized research framework for assessment of threat status of various species, which can help in implementing targeted conservation strategies based on empirical scientific evidences.