Medicinal Plants: Bioprospecting and Pharmacognosy

With chapters written by scientists from respected institutes and universities around the world, this book looks at the bioprospecting of medicinal plants for potential health uses and at the pharmacognosy of a selection of medicinal and aromatic plants.

The book touches on a diverse selection of topics related to medicinal plants. Chapters look at the use of medicinal plants in healthcare and disease management, such as to treat inflammation, antihyperglycemia, and obesity and as immunity boosters. The authors also address the conservation, maintenance, and sustainable utilization of medicinal plants along with postharvest management issues. A chapter discusses the use of synthetic seeds in relation to cryopreservation, and a chapter is devoted to the use of microcomputed tomography and image processing tools in medicinal and aromatic plants. Other topics include consumption, supply chain, marketing, trade, and future directions of research.

Table of Contents:

1. Medicinal Plants: Perspectives and Retrospectives

D. V. Swami, M. Anitha, M. Chandra Surya Rao, and A. B. Sharangi

2. Traditional Medicine in Health Care and Disease Management

Sumana Sarkhel

3. Herbal Drug Discovery Against Inflammation: From Traditional Wisdom to Modern Therapeutics

Shalini Dixit, Karuna Shanker, Madhumita Srivastava, Priyanka Maurya, Nupur Srivastava, Jyotshna, and Dyaneshwar U. Bawankule

4. Foeniculum vulgare Mill: Flavoring, Pharmacological, Phytochemical, and Folklore Aspects

Navneet Kishore and Akhilesh Kumar Verma

5. Ocimum basilicum: A Model Medicinal Industrial Crop Enriched with an Array of Bioactive Chemicals

Sunita Singh Dhawan, Pankhuri Gupta, and Raj Kishori Lal

6. Syzygium aromaticum, Curcuma longa, and Lavandula: Volatile Components and Antioxidant Activities

Hiroko F. Kasai

7. Anti-Hyperglycemic Property of Medicinal Plants

Karanpreet Singh Bhatia, Arpita Roy, and Navneeta Bhardavaj

8. Improved Production and Postharvest Technologies in Ashwagandha (Indian Ginseng)

A. C. Jnanesha and Ashish Kumar

9. Endangered Medicinal Plants of Temperate Regions: Conservation and Maintenance

Dhiman Mukherjee

10. Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Threatened Medicinal Plants of North East India

Kalkame Ch. Momin and N. Surmina Devi

11. Essential Oils: Clinical Perspectives and Uses

Jugreet Bibi Sharmeen and Mahomoodally Mohamad Fawzi

12. Asparagus sp.: Phytochemicals and Marketed Herbal Formulations

Vikas Bajpai, Pratibha Singh, Preeti Chandra, and Brijesh Kumar

13. Phytosomes: Preparations, Characterization, and Future Uses

Palakdeep Kaur and Uttam Kumar Mandal

14. Synthetic Seeds vis-a-vis Cryopreservation: An Efficient Technique for Long-Term Preservation of Endangered Medicinal Plants

Md. Nasim Ali and Syandan Sinha Ray

15. Use of Microcomputed Tomography and Image Processing Tools in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

Yogini S. Jaiswal, Yanling Xue, Tiqiao Xiao, and Leonard L. Williams

16. Postharvest Care of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: A Reservoir of Many Health Benefiting Constituents

Ankan Das and A. B. Sharangi

17. Prosopis cineraria (Khejri): Ethanopharmacology and Phytochemistry

Tarun Kumar Upadhyay, Manas Mathur, Rakesh Kumar Prajapat, Sunil Kumar Nagar, Kulveer Singh, Fahad Khan, Pratibha Pandey, and Mohammad Mustufa Khan

18. Mitigation of Obesity: A Phytotherapeutic Approach

A. B. Sharangi and Suddhasuchi Das

19. Ethnomedicinal Plants of North Eastern Himalayan Region of India to Combat Hypertension

Pintubala Kshetri, K. Tamreihao, Subhra Saikat Roy, Thangjam Surchandra Singh, Susheel Kumar Sharma, and Meraj Alam Ansari

20. Medicinal Plants: Consumption, Supply Chain, Marketing, and Trade in India

Debashis Mandal

21. Potential of Spices as Medicines and Immunity Boosters

Minoo Divakaran, K. Nirmal Babu, and K. V. Peter

22. Medicinal Plants: Future Thrust Areas and Research Directions

K. V. Peter and A. B. Sharangi