It is a well-known fact, that worldwide thousands of plant species are endangered and facing extinction with the current trend of their exploitation and destruction super(1,2). In recent years, there is a growing awareness concerning the impact of temperature rise, industrialization, desertification and shift in the growing seasons of plants, loss of pollinators, seed dispersers and increasing frequency of intense weather events such as drought, storms and floods making several valuable plants extinct super(3,4). According to the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), it is estimated that the current species extinction rate is between 1000 and 10,000 times higher than it would naturally be. It is acknowledged that the future survival of humanity depends on the conservation and protection of natural wealth, and destruction of a species or a genetic line symbolizes the loss of a unique resource. This type of genetic and environmental impoverishment is irreversible. Changes in the structure in the multiplicity of resources lessen the society's scope to respond to new problems and opportunities, and there is the danger of new plant diseases or pests, climatic change due to the greenhouse effect and other setbacks. To overcome these hurdles, there is a need of coordinated efforts of scientists, government departments and nongovernmental organizations to undertake effective measures for conservation of plants (Figure 1). Methods to support conservation consisting of education, providing enticements and adding capacity building need to be adopted at the earliest. To avoid the loss of biodiversity the government authorities have formulated stringent rules to safeguard and protect the existing biodiversity, ensuing protection of the present natural assets. This guided enactment of the Biological Diversity Act for India controls access to all genetic resources of the country and includes provision for equitable profit-sharing. The detailed specific rules are available on the webpage of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, and the National Biodiversity Authority, a statutory and regulatory body established under Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (www.nbaindia.org). IUCN and other organizations undertake wide ranging research projects on the status of biodiversity to protect specific species, manage and restore national parks, botanical gardens super(5) and other protected areas, and promote the sustainable uses of natural resources super(6,7). The modus operandi of biodiversity conservation, however, has to be implemented considering not only protection of any plant life in its natural status but its further multiplication and subsequent plantation followed by utilization which have other economic reflections super(8). Considering the new concept of bio-power applied to numerous crops, fruit and plantation crops as well as forest trees, saving of endangered plants has to focus on their further utility, if any, for various benefits to civilization. In this context, the role of a botanist assumes prime significance to undertake a particular project on threatened plants. The tasks of a botanist can be broadly divided as: (i) Identification and characterization of an endangered plant, (ii) Study of taxonomy, ecology and physiology, (iii) To understand the reasons for a particular plant becoming endangered, (iv) Propagation of the plant under controlled environment followed by in situ and ex situ conservation, (v) To create a self-sustainable population of threatened species in their natural habitat, (vi) Compilation of database and documentation of all threatened plants, (vii) To explore the utility of an endangered plant, if any, for basic as well as commercial applicability, (viii) Use of molecular markers and molecular diagnostic tools to give valuable support for the rapid and accurate identification of plant species through DNA bar-coding super(9).