Medicinal plants are plant taxa, or identifiable plant-derived materials, that contain naturally occurring constituents used in the prevention, alleviation, management, or treatment of human or animal disorders within a recognized traditional, ethnomedical, or pharmacological context [1]. The concept encompasses whole plants and specified plant parts—such as leaves, roots, bark, flowers, fruits, seeds, or aerial portions—together with preparations obtained from them, including infusions, decoctions, powders, extracts, and expressed materials, when their medicinal use is documented [2]. Their defining basis is the association between a botanical organism or its derived material and a therapeutic or health-related use, supported by traditional knowledge, ethnobotanical records, pharmacopoeial recognition, phytochemical evidence, or pharmacological investigation [3][4]. Medicinal plants may be wild or cultivated and may be used as raw botanical materials, as standardized herbal preparations, or as sources of bioactive constituents. The term therefore includes plants recognized through customary healthcare systems as well as taxa investigated for biologically active compounds relevant to therapeutic purposes [1][5].
- Ethnomedicine
- ethnobotany
- herbal medicines
- medicinal flora
Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies • Plant Science • Agricultural and Biological Sciences • Life Sciences
References
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- Anmol; Gaurav Aggarwal; Mehak Sharma; Raman Singh; Shivani; Upendra Sharma; Ethnopharmacologically important highly subsidized Indian medicinal plants: Systematic review on their traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, quality control, conservation status and future prospective. J. Ethnopharmacol. 2023, 320, 117385. [CrossRef]
- D S Fabricant; N R Farnsworth; The value of plants used in traditional medicine for drug discovery.. Environ. Health Perspect. 2001, 109, 69-75. [CrossRef]
- Michael Heinrich; Sarah Edwards; Daniel E. Moerman; Marco Leonti; Ethnopharmacological field studies: A critical assessment of their conceptual basis and methods. J. Ethnopharmacol. 2009, 124, 1-17. [CrossRef]