Medicinally Important Trees

This book provides researchers and advanced students (who are associated with plant and pharmaceuticals sciences) with comprehensive information on medicinal trees, their identification, morphological characteristics, traditional and economical uses, along with the latest research based on the plant's medicinal compounds.

The text also provides an updated knowledge of important phytochemicals of the trees, techniques being used, and isolation of phytochemicals based on medicinal importance. It covers ecological distribution of over 150 trees, which are characterized mainly on the basis of their unique properties and phytochemicals of medicinal importance (i.e., anti-allergic, anti-diabetic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-microbial, and their possible anti-HIV compounds). Flora is characterized on the basis of its unique and important medicinal properties because one plant may possess anti-diabetic, anti-microbial, and anti-carcinogenic activities at the same time. It also includes the latest phytochemistry techniques being explored through advancements in biochemical techniques like chromatographic and spectrometric techniques.

This reference work will also be useful for identification of trees along with morphological explanation of plants, and current, up-to-date botanical knowledge. A large number of illustrations, taken at different stages of plant development from flower to fruit formation, will benefit readers.

Due to the incredibly large diversity of medicinal trees, it is not possible to cover all within one publication, so trees which are relatively more common in many countries with unique medicinal properties will be discussed here in order to make it informative to a global audience. Also, the most up-to-date references are included for each plant at the end of each chapter to provide further sources of exploration for the reader.

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