Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases, a Cornerstone in the Validation of Ethnoveterinary Medicinal Plants, as Demonstrated by Data on Pets in British Columbia

Abstract

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) have been utilized in various forms since the earliest days of mankind. They have maintained their traditional basic curative role even in our modern societies. Apart from their traditional culinary and food industry uses, MAPs are intensively consumed as food supplements (food additives) and in animal husbandry, where feed additives are used to replace synthetic chemicals and production-increasing hormones. Importantly medicinal plants and their chemical ingredients can serve as starting and/or model materials for pharmaceutical research and medicine production. Current areas of utilization constitute powerful drivers for the exploitation of these natural resources. Today’s demands, coupled with the already rather limited availability and potential exhaustion of these natural resources, make it necessary to take stock both of them and enrich our knowledge regarding research and development, production, trade and utilization, and especially from the viewpoint of sustainability. The series Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the World is aimed to look carefully at our present knowledge of this vast interdisciplinary domain, on a global scale. In the era of global climatic change, the series is expected to make an important contribution to the better knowledge and understanding of MAPs.