Mayapple is an important American botanical drug with annual production in several hundred tones supplying both domestic and export demands. The US annual demand for American Podophyllum was more than 130 tonnes in 1970. The commercial interest turned to Indian Podophyllum when it was found to contain more podophyllotoxin than the American root. Indian Podophyllum is considered a rare and threatened species with removal rates exceeding natural regeneration rates. The population of these plants throughout its range was observed to be very sparse, declining and receding towards higher elevations. It has declined considerably to meet the increasing demand of the pharmaceutical industry; 37.3 tonnes of rhizomes were uprooted from 1995 to 2000. Market price of Indian Podophyllum is between Rs.500–660/kg within India. Exploitation of Podophyllum from the wild is prohibited for export from India under CITES. Many Indian research institutes are making great efforts to rescue these species. The annual supply during 1970 was around 50–80 tonnes against a demand of over 100 tonnes. The existing rate per hectare return is estimated at Rs. 141,120 at the rate of Rs. 60/kg.