Pharmacognostical, Phytochemical and Pharmacological Evaluation

Medicinal plants have been used by all civilizations as a source of medicines since ancient times. Interest in medicinal plants as a re-emerging health aid in the maintenance of personal health and well being has been fuelled by rising costs of prescription drugs, and the bioprospecting of new plant derived drugs. The plant kingdom is a treasure house of potential drugs and in recent years there has been an increasing awareness about the importance of medicinal plants. Drugs from the plants are easily available renewable resource, less expensive, safe, and efficient and rarely have side effects. The plants which have been selected for medical use over thousands of years constitute the most obvious choice for examining the current search for therapeutically effective new drugs such as anticancer drugs, antimicrobial drugs and antihepatotoxic compounds. About 80% of the world¿s population depends on herbal medicines and the governments of third world countries are unable to sustain a complete coverage with western type drugs have encouraged the rational development of traditional treatment.