Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Essential Oils and Pharmaceutical Uses

This book "Medicinal and Aromatic Plants : Essential Oils and Pharmaceutical Uses", has been a surge in our knowledge in the isolation and analysis of the extracts of the less exploited herbals. This gives a panorama on the essential oils and its active principles used in pharmaceuticals. In this context of the growing awareness among the people regarding the side effect of chemical and synthetic medicines, their carcinogenicity, toxicity etc., the herbal medicines and their practice has gained significance. Indian herbal industry is at its blooming stage, however, less is known about their source and uses. This book is aimed at exploring wild medicinal and aromatic flora and to bring them under domestication. A number of essential oil yielding plants are being cultivated commercially or semi-commercially in many countries of the world while some are still collected from forests. The essential oils, which are very intricately associated with our day today life are being mostly used in the aromatherapy, perfumery, cosmetics, soap, flavour, agarbathi and other allied industries. Today the trade of essential oils and their constituents is a billion dollar industry throughout the world. This book is expected to be an excellent resource for bio prospecting of medicinal and aromatic plants which include chemical prospecting, rehabilitation of rare and threatened strains, sustainable use of drug and pharmaceutical interest etc. This also helps to the new entrants to the field of perfumery. The agricultural scientists, biotechnologists, phytochemists, plant based research organisations students of plant science and all those committed to the development of pharmaceutical and perfumery industry will find this book useful.