**1. Introduction**

India is a cradle for diverse medicinal plants and has an immense repository of traditional medicinal knowledge. There are valuable resources that aid in treating various illnesses. About 90% of the medicinal herbs in India are accessible only from the forest, and hence, there is an imminent need for the commercial cultivation of medicinal plants. Karnataka one of the Indian states is known for the major biodiversity hotspots of India, *viz.*, the Western Ghats, which boasts a huge diversity of medicinal plants in the country. Plant diseases create challenging problems in commercial plantations and pose economical threats. Medicinal plants are not an exception and are vulnerable to the attack and invasion of several pathogens resulting in huge crop loss as well as degradation of their medicinal properties. Toxins produced by these pathogens are also of a great concern in case of medicinal plants. Therefore, the prevention of the diseases of medicinal plants should be the utmost priority. In this context, diseases of the 10 important medicinal plants cultivated in Karnataka *viz*., Sweet flag (*Acorus calamus* L.), Adosa (*Adhatoda vasica* (L.) Nees), Safed musli (*Chlorophytum borivilianum* Sant. & Fern.), Gurmar (*Gymnema sylvestre* (Retz.) Schult.), Hibiscus (*Hibiscus rosa-sinensis* L.), Noni (*Morinda citrifolia* L.), Velvet bean

(*Mucuna pruriens* (L.) DC.), Tulsi (*Ocimum sanctum* Linn.), Long pepper (*Piper longum* Linn.), and Crepe jasmine (*Tabernaemontana divaricata* & *Tabernaemontana coronaria* (L.) R. Br. ex Roem. & Schult.), and their management measures are reviewed and presented.
