Wild Plants: The Treasure of Natural Healers - Paperback

by Mahendra Rai (Editor), Shandesh Bhattarai (Editor), Chistiane M. Feitosa (Editor)

This book offers a broad summary of the wild plants and their usage, as well as the growing interest in ethnopharmacology research. The book comprises of important issues such as diversity of wild plants with emphasis on medicinal and food plants, threats to wild plants and traditional ethnobotanical knowledge, their uses in skin diseases, snake-bites, in cosmeceuticals, etc. Moreover, the ethnopharmacological relevance of wild plants in Latin America has been discussed. The chapters include a wide range of case studies, giving updated evidence on the importance of their wild plant resources from different countries including Peru, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Brazil. In addition, some specific species are used to explain their potential properties, as well as the dangers of their use without guidance of trained natural healers. The book discusses traditional usage and properties of wild plants and is entirely different from other related publications and useful for the researchers working in the areas of conservation biology, botany, ethnobiology, ethnopharmacology, policymakers, etc.

Author Biography

Dr. Mahendra Rai is a Senior Professor and UGC-Basic Science Research Faculty at the Department of Biotechnology, Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Maharashtra, India. He was a visiting scientist at the University of Geneva, Debrecen University, Hungary; University of Campinas, Brazil; Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland; VSB Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic, and National University of Rosario, Argentina. He has published more than 400 research papers in national and international journals. In addition, he has edited/authored more than 50 books and 6 patents.

Dr. Shandesh Bhattarai is a Senior Scientific Officer at Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. He worked in the collaborative research projects funded by NUFU-Norway, VW Foundation-Germany, Darwin Initiative-UK, DFID-UK, IUCN-Bangkok, UGC-Nepal, etc. He is a coordinator of the Flora of Nepal Project, an international initiative of the institutions of Nepal, UK, and Japan. He has published more than 35 research papers in national and international journals and has authored one book.

Dr. Chistiane M. Feitosa is a Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Piaui, Teresina-Piaui, Brazil. Her research area includes natural products with the potential for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. She has published more than 50 research papers in national and international journals. In addition, she has edited/authored more than 10 books /chapters and 5 patents.