Evaluation of Kelussia odoratissima Mozaffarian and Natural Habitats of the Species as well as Ex Situ Cultivation and Establishment

Kelussia (Kelussia et al.) is one of Iran's native medicinal plants that grow only in limited places in the mid-Zagros ranges. Due to the importance of its medicinal compounds in traditional medicine, continuous harvesting of this plant has ranked it an endangered species. The species' natural habitat was monitored in the Torreh area of Fereydunshahr, Iran, at 2794 - 2805m above sea level. In the species' natural habitat, phenological traits such as time of reproductive growth, emergence of flowering stems, flowering date and seed maturity date were evaluated. To prevent the extinction and domestication of this plant, two separate experiments were conducted at South Alborz Natural Resources Research Station, Karaj, and Sirachal Research Station, at 1900m altitude, for five years (2016-2020). Reviewing the literature revealed that (Kelussia et al.) is an endemic species of Iran and some of its natural habitats suffer from quality reduction or degradation. Therefore, more effort is needed to preserve the natural habitats of these valuable pharmaceutical and edible herbal species. Finally, some recommendations were also made.