Ranunculales Medicinal Plants

Ranunculales Medicinal Plants: Biodiversity, Chemodiversity and Pharmacotherapy comprehensively covers this order of flowering plants, detailing the phytochemistry, chemotaxonomy, molecular biology, and phylogeny of selected medicinal plants families and genera and their relevance to drug efficacy. The book carries out an exhaustive survey of the literature in order to characterize global trends in the application of flexible technologies. The interrelationship between Chinese species, and between Chinese and non-Chinese species, is inferred through molecular phylogeny and based on nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequencing. The book discusses the conflict between chemotaxonomy and molecular phylogeny in the context of drug discovery and development. Users will find invaluable and holistic coverage on the study of Ranunculales that will make this the go-to pharmaceutical resource. Describes current perceptions of biodiversity and chemodiversity of Ranunculales Explains how the conceptual framework of plant pharmacophylogeny benefits the sustainable exploitation of Ranunculales Details how Ranunculales medicinal plants work from the chemical level upward Covers how the polypharmacology of Ranunculales compounds might inspire new chemical entity design and development for improved treatment outcomes

The second volume of 'Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien' is presented now in the new format: the book contains an extensive General Part including contributions of different authors specializing in various fields of botany and it is written mainly in English. The first volume of this kind on the family Loganiaceae was published in 1980. The Ranunculaceae is a moderately large family with 59 genera and ca. 2500 species. Many of these have beautiful flowers or substances with strong physiological activity. They are used as ornamental or medicinal plants. This family shows great diversity in both vegetative and reproductive structures as well as in ecology. It retains many primitive characters and is regarded as one of the most primitive angiospermous families, but on the other hand it often presents quite specialized or advanced features. Therefore the family has attracted attention of many botanists from various points of view, and its members have been studied not only taxonomically, but also morphologically, anatomically, embryologically, palynologically, cytologically, phytochemically, serologically, and so on. Thus the Ranunculaceae are indeed an intensively studied family. The main author of this book, M. Tamura has been studying the family taxonomically for more than 40 years. In the history of the taxonomic studies of the Ranunculaceae, there were three monumental works. The first is that of A. P. De Candolle. In the first volume of his 'Systema Naturale' (1817) the family has been monographed at the species level for the first time. His work was excellent and gave a sound base to the taxonomy of the family and influenced the subsequent work for a long time. The second monograph at the generic level is that of K. Prantl (1888) which appeared in 'Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'. This author used anatomical and embryological characters, in addition to traditional morphological ones for the classification of the family, and tried to make a phylogenetic sys

In 1860, Oliver Wendell Holmes pointedly expressed himself to the Massachusetts Medical Society: “I firmly believe that if the whole Material Medica, as now used, could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind, and all the worst for the fishes.” Should one think the same about the current approach in drug discovery from plants? Probably yes. Despite the spending of billions of US dollars, and three decades of efforts, high-throughput screenings have only allowed the discovery of a couple of drugs. One could have reasonably expected the discovery of an arsenal of drugs from the millions of plant extracts randomly tested, but “hits” can be inactive in vitro or too toxic, some molecules need to be metabolized first to be active, and false-positive and false-negative results are common. The bitter truth is that the robotic approach in discovering drugs from plants has proven, to date, its inability to excavate the hundreds of molecules that will contribute to the health progress of Man. However, one can reasonably see that the last patches of primary rainforest on earth hold still hundreds of spectacularly active drugs that await discovery.

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Research in recent years has increasingly shifted away from purely academic research, and into applied aspects of the discipline, including climate change research, conservation, and sustainable development. It has by now widely been recognized that “traditional” knowledge is always in flux and adapting to a quickly changing environment. Trends of globalization, especially the globalization of plant markets, have greatly influenced how plant resources are managed nowadays. While ethnobotanical studies are now available from many regions of the world, no comprehensive encyclopedic series focusing on the worlds mountain regions is available in the market. Scholars in plant sciences worldwide will be interested in this website and its dynamic content. The field (and thus the market) of ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology has grown considerably in recent years. Student interest is on the rise, attendance at professional conferences has grown steadily, and the number of professionals calling themselves ethnobotanists has increased significantly (the various societies, like the Society for Economic Botany, the International Society of Ethnopharmacology, the Society of Ethnobiology, and the International Society for Ethnobiology currently have thousands of members). Growth has been most robust in BRIC countries. This new MRW on Ethnobotany of the Himalayas takes advantage of the increasing international interest and scholarship in the field of mountain research. It includes the best and latest research on a full range of descriptive, methodological, theoretical, and applied research on the most important plants in the Himalayas. Each contribution is scientifically rigorous and contributes to the overall field of study.

The second volume of 'Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien' is presented now in the new format: the book contains an extensive General Part including contributions of different authors specializing in various fields of botany and it is written mainly in English. The first volume of this kind on the family Loganiaceae was published in 1980. The Ranunculaceae is a moderately large family with 59 genera and ca. 2500 species. Many of these have beautiful flowers or substances with strong physiological activity. They are used as ornamental or medicinal plants. This family shows great diversity in both vegetative and reproductive structures as well as in ecology. It retains many primitive characters and is regarded as one of the most primitive angiospermous families, but on the other hand it often presents quite specialized or advanced features. Therefore the family has attracted attention of many botanists from various points of view, and its members have been studied not only taxonomically, but also morphologically, anatomically, embryologically, palynologically, cytologically, phytochemically, serologically, and so on. Thus the Ranunculaceae are indeed an intensively studied family. The main author of this book, M. Tamura has been studying the family taxonomically for more than 40 years. In the history of the taxonomic studies of the Ranunculaceae, there were three monumental works. The first is that of A. P. De Candolle. In the first volume of his 'Systema Naturale' (1817) the family has been monographed at the species level for the first time. His work was excellent and gave a sound base to the taxonomy of the family and influenced the subsequent work for a long time. The second monograph at the generic level is that of K. Prantl (1888) which appeared in 'Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'. This author used anatomical and embryological characters, in addition to traditional morphological ones for the classification of the family, and tried to make a phylogenetic sys

Asian medicinal plants show great promise in pharmaceutical and cosmetological development. Researchers engaged in the discovery of new leads in these areas need robust conceptual tools and understanding of interrelated basics of botany, ethnobotany, biomolecular pharmacology, phytochemistry, and medicinal chemistry to guide their investigations. Medicinal Plants of China, Korea, and Japan: Bioresources for Tomorrow’s Drugs and Cosmetics explores the fundamental science and demonstrates the compelling potential of these versatile plants, providing an essential resource to stimulate and guide focused inquiry. It is essential that researchers appreciate the chemotaxonomical statuses of these plants, so chapters are arranged according to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system of plant taxonomy. The book discusses the history, synonymy, habitat, description, traditional uses, and pharmacochemistry of each plant. Detailed photographs and hand-made botanical plates enable quick and reliable identification of each plant species. Critical analyses of peer-reviewed articles provide the basis for Bioresource sections in each chapter wherein readers are advised, engaged, and guided towards exciting pharmaceutical and cosmetological research proposals. Also included are indexes of botanical terms, pharmacological terms, natural products, and local names. Detailing 200 medicinal plant species carefully selected for their novelty and pharmacological and cosmetological importance, this volume provides a firm starting point for anyone looking forward to unlocking the potential of Asian medicinal plants. In addition, this invaluable book identifies numerous patentable leads.