Principal Crude Herbal Drugs of India: An Illustrated Guide to Important, Largely Used and Traded Medicinal Raw Materials of Plant Origin

There is a growing global demand for medicines, pharmaceuticals, tonics, cosmetics and other products based on herbal raw materials. India is a major player in this field, being second only to China in production, consumption and export of herbal products as well as the raw materials known as crude drugs. Current spurt in the commercial activity in this area, has exerted a great pressure on the raw materials, specially those originating from forests and other forms of natural vegetation. The escalating gap between demand and supply is now fulfilled through all possible means. Majority of crude drugs is collected without any consideration of the quality. The trade in herbal raw materials, though flourishing, lacks efficiency in maintaining the quality of the materials under supply. Degradation of therapeutic efficacy due to faulty collection, drying and storage is a common feature. In a number of cases the part of the plant designated officinal is adulterated or even substituted by a different part of the same plant or by that obtained from altogether a different botanical source. Collection of plant species threatened by depleting natural population is going on unabated despite restrictions imposed by controlling agencies. The drug taken out of forest is generally in the form of a dried part of a plant and it becomes difficult to determine the identity of the botanical source from which it has been collected due to general lack of knowledge in this subject. Such problems call for proper guiding materials enabling easy and quick determination of genuineness and quality of a particular crude herbal drug. Methods based on microscopic pharmacognosy and chromatography are available for this purpose. Their use, however, requires sophisticated instruments and techniques. The knowledge of the identity of the plant and major morphological and organoleptic characters of the part of the plant constituting the crude appear more suitable in tackling such problems. The information, however, should be concise and easily understood by persons operating in this area. The present book provides the required know how for determining the genuineness of the crude drug under use and identity of the plant source from which it has been obtained. It also incorporates information on the availability, production, quality requirements and sources of procurement and supplies in India. The book is primarily designed and written as ready reference for use by manufacturers of drugs and pharmaceuticals, collectors, traders of crude drugs, foresters and policy makers. It may be found equally useful to students and workers engaged in research and development of medicinal plants and phyto-pharmaceuticals.