Main description:

Before the concept of history began, humans undoubtedly acquired life benefits by discovering medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) that were food and medicine. Today, a variety of available herbs and spices are used and enjoyed throughout the world and continue to promote good health. The international market is also quite welcoming for MAPs and essential oils. The increasing environment and nature conscious buyers encourage producers to produce high quality essential oils. These consumer choices lead to growing preference for organic and herbal based products in the world market. As the benefits of medicinal and aromatic plants are recognized, these plants will have a special role for humans in the future. Until last century, the production of botanicals relies to a large degree on wild-collection. However, the increasing commercial collection, largely unmonitored trade, and habitat loss lead to an incomparably growing pressure on plant populations in the wild. Therefore, medicinal and aromatic plants are of high priority for conservation.

Given the above, we bring forth a comprehensive volume, "Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Healthcare and Industrial Applications", highlighting the various healthcare, industrial and pharmaceutical applications that are being used on these immensely important MAPs and its future prospects. This collection of chapters from the different areas dealing with MAPs caters to the need of all those who are working or have interest in the above topic.

Contents:

History and role of medicinal and aromatic plants in human health

Sheng Qin

The key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plant of Jiangsu Province, School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu Normal University, China

Email: shengqin@jsnu.edu.cn

Secondary metabolites of medicinal and aromatic plants and their disease fighting properties

Paul Horrocks

School of Pharmacy and Bioengineering, Hornbeam Building,

Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK

Email: p.d.horrocks@keele.ac.uk

Healthcare challenges in developing countries: Role of medicinal and aromatic plants

Wen-Quan Wang

School of Chinese Pharmacy, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China

Email: wwq57@126.com

Marketing of medicinal plants: A growing commercial sector

Chandra Prakash Kala

National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of Health & FamilyWelfare, Government of India, 36- Janpath, Chandralok Building, NewDelhi- 110 001, India

Email: cpkala@yahoo.co.uk

International market prospects for medicinal and aromatic plants

Ralf R. Mendel

Department of Plant Biology, Braunschweig University of Technology, Germany

Email: r.mendel@tu-bs.de

The conservation and utilization of medicinal plant resources

Elisabeth Hsu

Institute of social and cultural anthropology, Faculty of oriental studies, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Email: Elisabeth.hsu@anthro.ox.ac.uk

Economic importance of medicinal plants in developing countries

Tewin Tencomnao

Age-Related Inflammation and Degeneration Research Unit, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok- 10330, Thailand

Email: tewintencomnao@gmail.com

Phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicity of important medicinal plants

Tomokazu Kohiba-Koshiba

Department of Biology, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, Japan

Email: tomokazu@c.metro-u.ac.jp

Improving quality of medicinal and aromatic plants though technological developments

Shashi Pandey Rai

Laboratory of Morphogenesis, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

Email: shashi.bhubotany@gmail.com

Understanding the mechanisms of action of medicinal plants

Lucie Beaulieu

Departement des Sciences des Aliments, Institut sur la Nutrition et les Aliments Fonctionnels (INAF), 2425, rue de l'Agriculture, Universite Laval, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

Email: lucie.beaulieu@fsaa.ulaval.ca

Industrial utilization of medicinal and aromatic plants

H. J. Barrales-Cureno

Laboratorio de Productos Naturales, Area de Quimica, Departamento de Preparatoria Agricola. AP74 Oficina de correos Chapingo, Universidad Autonoma Chapingo, Km 38.5 Carretera Mexico-Texcoco, Texcoco Estado de Mexico, 56230.

Email: hebert.jair@uiep.edu.mx

Introduction of green technology for extraction of active constituents from medicinal and aromatic plants

Mauji Ram

Green Technology Department, Ipca Laboratories Ltd., Sejavta-457002, Dist. Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, India

Email: tyagi_mjt@rediffmail.com

Phytoremediation potential of medicinal and aromatic plants

Shafaqat Ali

Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Email: shafaqataligill@yahoo.com

Medicinal and aromatic plants and herbal drugs

Khalid Rehman Hakeem

Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Makkah Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Email: kur.hakeem@gmail.com

Aromatic plants as a source of bioactive compounds and uses in fragrance industry

Priyanka Verma

Plant Biotechnology Division, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226015, India

Email: priyankaurbest@gmail.com

Essential oil-bearing plants and their commercial value

M. Masroor A. Khan

Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Email: masruur@gmail.com

Entrepreneurship and agribusiness development through medicinal and aromatic plants

J. B. Komaraiah

Department of Economics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi - 221 005, U.P. Email: jbkomaraiah@gmail.com