Unlocking the Power of Ethnic Knowledge: A 2-Volume Set on Medicinal Plants and Biodiversity

This comprehensive 2-volume set, “Ethnic Knowledge and Perspectives of Medicinal Plants”, aims to preserve and disseminate the valuable ethnic knowledge of medicinal plants gained over thousands of years, emphasizing the link between biodiversity, human nutrition, and food security.

Volume 1: Traditional Use of Medicinal Plants for Disease Prevention and Management

Explore the benefits of medicinal plants in disease prevention, treatment, and management. This volume discusses the traditional use of medicinal plants as promising therapeutics for cancer, liver conditions, COVID-19, and other human ailments.

Delve into the efficacy of Ayurvedic and Chinese herbal medicine, Indian traditional medicine, and other ethnic herbal practices used by indigenous peoples of Azerbaijan, South America, Turkey, India, and more. Learn about the ethnomedicinal applications of over 100 wild mushrooms for their medicinal and healthcare purposes.

Volume 2: Medicinal Plants for Nutritional and Dietary Benefits

Discover the traditional medicinal plant use for their nutritional and dietary benefits, and the importance of preserving biodiversity for healthy and sustainable diets. This volume presents information on over 2200 vascular plant taxa from 127 families, as well as many taxa from leaf parts, fruits, underground parts, floral parts, seeds, and more that have potential use as edible food plants.

Explore the unique nutritional attributes of wild edible mushrooms (206 species belonging to 73 genera) in Southern India, and learn about various lichens as nutritional aids and medicine, and as flavoring agents and spices. Fucoidans derived from seaweeds (and spirulina) are described for their antioxidant activity, nutritional and anti-aging properties, antiviral activities, anti-cancer properties, anti-diabetic properties, and more.

Understand how ethnicity affects healthcare/nutritive systems at different levels through various dynamics such as lower income, inability for services uptake, disputes among different ethnic groups, cultural attitudes, lack of socio-economic resources, and disease prevalence.

Together, these two important volumes aim to promote the value of integrating and safeguarding biodiversity, and to preserve the valuable ethnic knowledge of medicinal plants gained over thousands of years.