Medicinal Plants: Can Utilization and Conservation Coexist?People have often relied on plants for their medicinal value. Demand, however, often leads to the degradation of these valuable resources. This study examines several medicinal plant species, their value to traditional & contemporary medicine, & how over-harvesting of these plants impacts natural & human forest communities. It explores the discovery & utility of medicinal plants into the herbal & pharmaceutical industries & its impact on forest communities. The authors offer productive alternatives to over-harvesting of wild populations, such as the Belize Ethnobotany Project. The study concludes with how traditional, herbal, & pharmaceutical industries that rely on medicinal plants must co-exist & avoid the destruction of the rain forest & its communities. |
Contents
Plants as Medicines | 5 |
The Role of Plants in Traditional Medicine | 31 |
Medicinal Plants in International Herbal Markets | 41 |
Copyright | |
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active alkaloid alkaloid content alternatives American Ancistrocladus April areas Balick Belize biological bloodroot Brazil Cameroon cancer Catharanthus roseus Cephaelis ipecacuanha chemical Cinchona collectors comm commercial companies compounds conservation continues costs crops cultivation culture curare drug Duke Echinacea economic effective efforts ethnobotanical expectorant export extract Farnsworth Ficus insipida Foster genus ginseng goldenseal growing habitat healers herbal industry herbal medicines herbs incentives increased initial international herbal investment ipecac IUCN latex levels Lilly Macleaya Madagascar market demand mayapple medicinal plants Merck native overharvesting Pacific yew paclitaxel Panax quinquefolius pers pharmaceutical industry pilocarpine Pilocarpus plant species podophyllotoxins Podophyllum potential protection Prunus africana rain forests Rauvolfia serpentina recent require Rhamnus purshiana root rosy periwinkle Sanguinaria canadensis seed sources supply sustainable harvest synthesis synthetic Tabebuia Taxus brevifolia tion traditional medicine trees tropical U.S. Department wild collection wild harvest wild plant populations wild populations