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The medicinal systems based on cultural framework thus created a new discipline of “ethnomedicine”. Ethnomedicine (eth·no·med·i·cine/eth? no-med´i-sin/ eth'·no·me?·di·sin) or ethnic medicine or “folk medicine” is the medical systems based on the cultural beliefs and practices of specific ethnic groups or particular culture and concern about the care and treatment of illness. The study of etiology of disease, practitioners and their role in health care, and types of treatment administered are the purview of ethnomedicine, which helps in the search for new cures and wellness among indigenous people. At large, ethnomedicine is a sub-field of ethnobotany or medical anthropology of all cultures either written (e.g. Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda), or orally transmitted over the centuries.


In depth information prepared by experts all over the globe traces the evolution of herbal drugs with civilization and their use as antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, antioxidants, anticancerous, chemopreventors, memory enhancers, neuroprotective, immunomodulator, laxatives, analgesic and anti-inflammatory disorders, along with safety issues and toxic effects.

The special emphasis covers twelve important topics like Diseases that need new drugs, role of ethnomedicine as complementary therapeutics, ethnomedicnal plants in parasitic infections, ethnomedicines for the development of anti-herpesvirus agents, ethnomedicinal plants derived antibacterials, recent advances in antimicrobial effects of essential oils, ethnomedicnal plants to fight neoplastic diseases, recent advances on ethnomedicinal immunomodulatory agents, plant based treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, ethnomedicinal plants as antiinflammatory and analgesic agents, ethnomedicnal plants as laxative drugs and the relationship of ethnomedicines with pharmacogenomics.

This book offers researchers working on diverse aspects of medicinal plants with a complete coverage of botany, ethnology, pharmacology, toxicology and medicinal properties, and provides essential source material to all working in the fields of botany, pharmacy, traditional systems of medicine and drug industry. This book is the outcome of extensive consultations among biomedical scientists and clinicians.