Identification and Molecular Authentication of Anisochilus scaber Benth. and Anisochilus Kanyakumariensis Shinoj & Sunojk. from Western Ghats, India.

Anisochilus Wall. ex Benth is a genus of Lamiaceae family which includes medicinally and ethnobotanically important species like A. carnosus. It is a taxonomically significant genus because of its close similarity in morphological characters. There exists difficulty in identification of the species due to similar morphology. The present study attempts to molecularly validate two species of the genus, A. scaber and A. kanyakumariensis. from the Western Ghats of India using chloroplast (rbcL) and nuclear (ITS2) regions. In both species, rbcL works efficiently, however the ITS2 primer yielded no results. Gene sequences were submitted in NCBI. Evolutionary relationship of subtribe plectranthinae using Neighbour-Joining method is also discussed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]