Medicinal Plants: Aspects and Prospects

India has unique position in the world, where a number of traditional systems of medicines i.e. Ayurveda, Sidha, Unani, and Homoeopathy are practiced in health care system. All these systems predominately depend upon medicinal plants which provide materials for pharmaceutical industry as well as traditional forms of medicines, generate income and employment, and have implications for the conservation of biodiversity and traditional knowledge. The purpose behind the publication of this book in to make a general and scientific awareness among the public, students, researchers, farmers and scientists regarding judicious medicinal use as well as cultivation of the plants, and also to save our plant wealth for our future generation. Present volume contains 25 articles on medicinal plants covering wide variety of the topics. A perusal of various titles comprising the volume show that they cover the aspects related to the cultivation and propagation, tissue culture, biotechnology, ayurvedic use, ethnobotany, pharmacology, phytochemicals, control of household insects, economics and plant diversity. Besides, a separate chapter related to the medicinal use of algae has also been introduced. The book will therefore be very useful to botanists, agricultural scientists, ethnobotanists and students as well as researchers of plant sciences. The present volume will be of great service to the mankind and to bound to enlighten them in various directions related to the medicinal and ethnobotanical uses and commercial cultivation of the herbal medicines.