Current Trends In Medicinal Botany

Brings together the diverse research trends in the field of medicinal botany. Beginning with the core study of distribution patterns of medicinal plants, it covers the wide range of chemical evaluation of their therapeutic properties, unravels the impact of environmental stresses, and highlights the modern research at molecular authentication and quality assessment of medicinal plants.

Plants and other living organisms have great potential to treat human disease. There are two distinct types of biomedical research that seek to develop this potential. One type of research explores the value of medicinal plants as traditionally used and studies of these plants have the potential to determine which plants are most potent, optimize dosages and dose forms, and identify safety risks. Another type of research uses bioassays to identify single molecules from plants that have interesting bioactivities in isolation and might be useful lead compounds for the development of pharmaceutical drugs. This new volume of Advances in Botanical Research covers the recent trends in Medicinal Plants Research over 11 chapters. Topics that are covered include Development of Drugs from Plants – Regulation and Evaluation, Chinese Herbal Medicines for Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Taxol, camptothecin and beyond for cancer therapy. Covers the recent trends in medicinal plants research over 11 chapters Topics that are covered include Development of Drugs from Plants – Regulation and Evaluation, Chinese Herbal Medicines for Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Taxol, camptothecin and beyond for cancer therapy

The book provides an overview of current trends in biotechnology and medicinal plant sciences. The work includes detailed chapters on various advance biotechnological tools involved in production of phytoactive compounds of medicinal significance. Some recent and novel research studies on therapeutic applications of different medicinal plants from various geographical regions of the world have also been included. These studies report the antimicrobial activity of various natural plant products against various pathogenic microbial strains. Informative chapters on recent emerging applications of plant products such as source for nutraceuticals and vaccines have been integrated to cover latest advances in the field. This book also explores the conservation aspect of medicinal plants. Thus, chapters having comprehensively complied in vitro conservation protocols for various commercially important rare, threatened and endangered medicinal plants were provided in the present book.

The book entitled 'CURRENT TRENDS IN COLEUS AROMATICUS' is a collection of diverse medicinal aspects of advanced research on Coleus Aromaticus. This provides a comprehensive coverage of different trends, which is an outlook for research & development for plant biologists and researchers. The book summarized information concerning the occurrence and current status, botanical description, propagation, cultivation, production and export prospects in India, medicinal applications, ethno-pharmacological applications & indigenous uses, phytochemistry, biological activities and role of plant biotechnological approaches in conservation of C. Aromaticus for sustainable utilization, production & enhancement of secondary metabolites. The objective of this book is to provide comprehensive scientific information to a reader about the prevalent medicinal properties of the plant COLEUS AROMATICUS. Current usage of contemporary medicines and their ultimate economic impact solely due to their long term side effects are harshly evident. Now, it is necessary to support application of alternative medicines for common diseases. Reliance on plant based medicines should increase pertaining to long term successful history, ease of accessibility and much lower prices, relatively. We believe that the content of the book will inspire readers to broaden their research interests, and encourage more widespread use of this high value medicinal plant.

As the medicinal plant industry blooms into a billion dollar business, it reaches beyond collection, propagation, harvesting and sale of crude vegetal drugs into product formulation, packaging and dispensing of sophisticated phyto-pharmaceuticals and herbal preparations. The scientific study of these medicines and the systematic uplifting of the industry to preserve the ancient and serve the modern, is now a global challenge. The Medicinal Plant Industry puts together the various facets of this multi-disciplinary industry and its global interest. It discusses the dire need for developing countries to acquire technologies and techniques for programmed cultivation of medicinal plants. It addresses a wide variety of topics including the old philosophies, modern impact of traditional medicines, and methods of assessing the spontaneous flora for industrial utilization. It covers aspects of cultivation and climatic variations, biological assessment and formulation, process technologies, phytochemical research and information sources. The book reviews highly developed traditional medicine in China and India, and covers experiences in Africa and other continents.

Stay up-to-date with this important contribution to rationalized botanical medicine The Handbook of Medicinal Plants explores state-of-the-art developments in the field of botanical medicine. Nineteen experts from around the world provide vital information on natural products and herbal medicines—from their earliest relevance in various cultures to today’s cutting-edge biotechnologies. Educated readers, practitioners, and academics of natural sciences will benefit from the text’s rich list of references as well as numerous tables, figures, and color photographs and illustrations. The Handbook of Medicinal Plants is divided into three main sections. The first section covers the use of herbal medicines throughout history in China, Australia, the Americas, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean, emphasizing the need for future medicinal plant research. The second section discusses the latest technologies in production and breeding, crop improvement, farming, and plant research. The third section focuses on groundbreaking advances in the medicinal application of therapeutic herbs. In the Handbook of Medicinal Plants, you will gain new knowledge about: recent research and development in Chinese herbal medicine modern methods of evaluating the efficacy of medicinal plants by “screening” the newest developments of in vitro cultivation prevention and therapy of cancer and other diseases using medicinal plants the challenges and threats to medicinal plant research today trends in phytomedicine in the new millennium The Handbook of Medicinal Plants demonstrates the global relevance of sharing local knowledge about phytomedicines, and highlights the need to make information on plants available on a worldwide basis. With this book, you can help meet the challenge to find scientifically rationalized medicines that are safer, more effective, and readily available to patients from all walks of life.

Herbal Technology: Recent Trends and Progress is a comprehensive book on the various trends and the aspects of this recent branch of Botany. Herbal Technology encompasses all the myriads of ways of utilizing the multifarious potentialities of plants for human welfare. There are presently five aspects such as Medicinal plants, Natural dyes, Biopesticides, Biofertilizers and Biofuel in this discipline, though more and more may added by the brilliant workers who tread this path at a later stage. Medicinal plants which form the first section contains a number of papers dealing with biomarkers, both pharmacognostic and phytochemical, on a good number of medicinal plants as well as many ethnobotanical surveys. Natural Dyes form the second section and it covers the application of dyes from six plants such as Rohira, Katha, Ravenchi wood, Annatto, Babool, banana on various textiles. In the section on Biofertilizers papers on the utility of marine algae, blue green algae and Am fungi are included. In the last section, Biofuels, the utility of biogas as well as a number of new sources of fatty oils have been presented. This book will serve as a reference book for students, teachers and workers of Medicinal plants, Natural Dyes, Biopesticides, Biofertilisers and Biofuel.