A detailed discussion of the need to conserve medicinal plants and their environments.

"Planting the Future" shows how land stewardship, habitat protection, and sustainable cultivation are of critical importance to ensure an abundant renewable supply of medicinal plants for future generations.

In-depth cultivation of 20 rare species of medicinal herbs from North America. Seed planting, care of seedlings, nursery and field production, usage, technical statistics, ranges, zones and marketing.

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.

Medicinal plants are globally valuable sources of herbal products. Plant-based remedies have been used for centuries and have had no alternative in the western medicine repertoire, while others and their bioactive derivatives are in high demand and have been the central focus of biomedical research. As Medicinal plants move from fringe to mainstream with a greater number of individuals seeking treatments free of side effects, considerable attention has been paid to utilize plant-based products for the prevention and cure of human diseases. An unintended consequence of this increased demand, however, is that the existence of many medicinal plants is now threatened, due to their small population size, narrow distribution area, habitat specificity, and destructive mode of harvesting. In addition, climate change, habitat loss and genetic drift have further endangered these unique species. Although extensive research has been carried out on medicinal and aromatic plants, there is relatively little information available on their global distribution patterns, conservation and the associated laws prevailing. This book reviews the current status of threatened medicinal plants in light of increased surge in the demand for herbal medicine. It brings together chapters on both wild (non-cultivated) and domestic (cultivated) species having therapeutic values. Thematically, conventional and contemporary approaches to conservation of such threatened medicinal plants with commercial feasibility are presented. The topics of interest include, but not limited to, biotechnology, sustainable development, in situ and ex situ conservation, and even the relevance of IPR on threatened medicinal plants. We believe this book is useful to horticulturists, botanists, policy makers, conservationists, NGOs and researchers in the academia and the industry sectors.

Traditional medicinal knowledge, especially the use of ethnomedicinal plants in developing countries, has been passed down for generations. Today, however, scientists are poised to combine traditional medicinal plants and modern drug discoveries to further develop essential products that have followed the leads of indigenous cures used for centuries. Ethnomedicinal Plant Use and Practice in Traditional Medicine provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of indigenous knowledge and therapeutic potential within ethnobotany. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as drug discovery, traditional knowledge, and herbal medicine, this book is ideally designed for doctors, healers, medical professionals, ethnobotanists, naturalists, academicians, researchers, and students interested in current research on the medical use and applications of natural-based resources.