World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined medicinal plants as plants that contain compounds or having properties that can be used for therapeutic purposes or those that synthesize metabolites to produce useful drugs. Medicinal plants are available in almost all countries of the world but India is considered as the largest producer of medicinal plants and, therefore, is called ‗Botanical garden of the world‘.

The present publication attempts to document the indigenous medicinal plants used by peoples of Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalaya for treatment of various diseases. The book pertains to an effort to cohere indigenous knowledge to researcher and the entire related stakeholder who are involved in overall sustainable development. Attention has been given on proper identification of plant species for further research work. This book discusses the botanical description, habitat and plant parts use as herbal medicine by local inhabitants of Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalaya since time immemorial for their day to day problems. It also includes remarks on any hazardous experience by using these herbal medicines.

This volume takes an in-depth look at the potential pharmacological applications of 11 important antidiabetic plants, examining their antihyperglycemic, hypoglycemic, and anti-lipidemic properties along with current genome editing research perspectives. Plant natural products, or phytoconstituents, are promising candidates for antidiabetic pharmacological actions. The phytoconstituents, such as fl avonoids, terpenoids, saponins, carotenoids, alkaloids and glycosides, play vital roles in the current and future potent antidiabetic drug development programs Each chapter reviews a particular plant with antidiabetic properties, explaining the therapeutic aspects, its active antidiabetic compounds, and relevant genome editing technology. The specific plants discussed include Azadirachta indica (commonly known as neem, nimtree or Indian lilac), Gymnema sylvestre (commonly called gymnema, Australian cowplant, and Periploca of the woods), Syzygium cumini (commonly known as Malabar plum, Java plum, black plum, jamun or jambolana), Ceylon cinnamon (or true cinnamon, as opposed to cassia cinnamon), insulin plant (or Costus pictus), Trigonella foenum-graecum (better known as fenugreek), Mulberry, Nigella sativa L. (black caraway, also known as black cumin, nigella, kalojeera, kalonji or kalanji), Aegle marmelos (L.) (commonly known as bael (or bili or bhel), also Bengal quince, golden apple, Japanese bitter orange, stone apple or wood apple), Ficus benghalensis (the banyan, banyan fig and Indian banyan), and of course, garlic (Allium sativum). Antidiabetic Plants for Drug Discovery: Pharmacology, Secondary Metabolite Profiling, and Ingredients with Insulin Mimetic Activity will serve as a valuable source of information for students, drug researchers, medical practitioners, diabetic patients, and many others in the effort to gain understand of how these plant drug molecules can help fight diabetes.