Ethnobotany: Himalayan Region

Dr. S.K. Sood is Professor of Botany at the Department of Biosciences, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. He obtained his M.Sc. (1974) and M. Phil. (1976) from Himachal Pradesh University and Ph.D. (1981) from Nagarjuna University, Guntur, specializing in Plant Systematics and Embryology. For his post-doctoral, he underwent specialized training in Ethnobotany. He has had a brilliant academic career followed by over 25 years of teaching and conducting research in Botany at Postgraduate as well as research levels. Dr. Sood has guided about 10 M. Phil and 12 Ph.D. students and published numerous research papers in various national and international journals. He has attended and participated in many seminars, workshops and conferences. He is also associated with many educational and research bodies in India and abroad. A prolific writer, his book Ethnobotany of Cold Desert Tribes of Lahoul-Spiti (N.W. Himalaya): Deep Publications, New Delhi, 2001, was widely acclaimed. His current major interests are in the theory and practice of systematics, flora of North-West Himalaya, ethnic tribes and conservation research.

Dr. T.N. Lakhanpal, Professor, Department of Biosciences, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, is a Gold Medallist from Punjab University, Chandigarh and received Ph.D. from the University of Delhi. He has published more than 150 research papers. During the last two decades he has extensively surveyed the N.W. Himalayas for mushrooms and has worked the biodiversity of microbes and other plants in the Himalayas. He has co-authored Taxonomy of Indian Myxomycetes (J. Cramer, Germany), Rural Eneregy Alternatives in the Hilly Areas (TODAy and Tomorrow Publ. New Delhi) and The Amanitaceae of India (Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun). He is a member of many scientific societies and associations. So far around 23 students have received Ph.D. degree under his supervision. He has been associated with many committees in Botany and Biology. Dr. Lakhanpal is very well known for his research contributions in India as well as abroad.