Prime Ayurvedic Plant Drugs A Modern Scientific Appraisal (Second Edition)

In the early development of modern medicine, biologically active compounds from higher plants played a vital role in providing medicines to combat pain and disease, and most of these were culled from plants traditionally used for that purpose in one culture or another. Even now, search for bioactive molecules from nature (plants, animals, microflora) continues to play an important role in fashioning new therapeutic agents. Besides, in the last three decades or so, a new trend in the preparation and marketing of drugs based on medicinal plants has become increasingly important in several European countries. These preparations, labelled herbal drugs or phytomedicines are carefully standardized, and their efficacy and safety for a specific application demonstrated, and are dispensed just like the allopathic preparations.Additionally, in several countries traditional medicine is still in vogue, and in fact, has been gaining more acceptability for treatment of chronic ailments. This is espe