What Is The Importance Of Medicinal Plants

The term medicinal plant includes various types of plants used in herbalism which is basically refers to the study of use of plants for its medicinal purposes and its importance (Rafieian-kopaei 2012).

The word herb is actually derived from the famous Latin word “herba” which refers to various parts of the plant like bark, stem, fruit, seed, flower or root, as well as other non-woody parts of the plant. In ancient times, the term “herb” was only used for non-woody plants like trees and shrubs. These medicinal plants are basically used as food, medicine or perfume and also in certain spiritual activities (Petrovska 2012).

Plants are used because of their medicinal purposes from long before the prehistoric period and since ancient times. Ancient

Around 30% of the entire plant species are used for medicinal purposes. Among all the developed countries, United States contribute around 25% of the total drugs, while the fast developing countries such as India and China contribute very high around 80% of the total share. Thus, the economic importance and value of medicinal plants is much more in countries such as India than in the rest of the world. These countries only provides maximum share of the medicinal plants for various medical purposes and treatment of various diseases (Martinez & Betancourt

There are countries that have separate herbal pharmacopoeias like Russia and Germany. Yet, in practice, a much higher number of unofficial drugs are always used. Their application is actually based on the experiences of popular medicine or on some scientific research and its associated experimental results. These plants can also be used in combination with the synthetic drugs. For the sake of adequate and successfully applied therapy, knowledge of the precise diagnosis of the illness as well as of medicinal plants in terms of its pharmacological effect is required (Plants 1985). Plant drugs and phytopharmaceuticals, most commonly with defined active bioactive components which has defined therapeutic action and are verified are applied for therapeutic applications. But, for the effective use of these drugs or its associated formulation, standardization plays a prime importance and is highly required to reduce the chances of toxicity associated with the unauthentic