Pharmacognosy Reviews logo
Submit
Pharmacognosy ReviewsACADEMIC PUBLISHING
Review

Ecological Facets of Varied Plant Life Forms and their Therapeutic Relevance

1, 1, 2

  1. 1Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, CT University, Ludhiana, Punjab, INDIA.
  2. 2Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government Pharmacy College, Kangra, Nagrota Bagwan, Himachal Pradesh, INDIA.

CORRESPONDENCE

Amandeep Kaur Gill

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, CT University, Ludhiana, Punjab, INDIA.

amansatnamgill@gmail.com

Received: 14-10-2024; Accepted: 30-10-2024.

Volume 18, Issue 36 · pp. 127-136 · 2025 · DOI: 10.5530/phrev.20241976

ABSTRACT

Life forms depict the sum of adaptive features attributed to the ecological relationships of species. Adaptation plays a crucial role in the natural selection of an organism and sustains an organism's survival in its habitat. These are evolutionary changes inherited by plants for their survival in nature and to cope with competition and stresses in the environment. Varied plant life forms exist in nature and are classified by Eugen Warming considering their corresponding traits and the associated response to the environment viz. hydrophytes, helophytes, oxylophytes, psychrophytes, halophytes, lithophytes, psammophytes, chersophytes, eremophytes, psilophytes, sclerophyllous, coniferous and mesophytes. These adaptive life forms bring about structural and physiological changes and evolve for the successful survival of organisms in nature. Secondary metabolites, fungal endophytes and phytohormones play a vital role in the adaptation process by providing them a defensive shield against stressors. When explored therapeutically, these adapted plants containing secondary metabolites contributed to preventing and treating a wide array of diseases and disorders and seem promising sources of drug discovery.

KEYWORDS

Open in new tab

REFERENCES

As published

Showing references and in-text citations exactly as published.

    Cite this article

    SELECT FORMAT

    Arya, V., Gill, A. K., & Jamwal, A. (2025). Ecological Facets of Varied Plant Life Forms and their Therapeutic Relevance. Pharmacognosy Reviews, 18(36), 127-136. https://doi.org/10.5530/phrev.20241976

    Copyright and licence

    © 2025 Author(s)

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, which allows others to share and adapt the work for any purpose, as long as the original authors and source are credited. CC BY 4.0