Ethnobotany: A bridge between traditional knowledge and biotechnological studies on medicinal and aromatic plants

Abstract

History is witness to plants being an integral part of human evolution, as a source of food, fuel and medicine. Traditional medicine relies extensively on plants and plant products in its holistic approach to treatment of disease, minor or major. However, many plant-based cures in traditional medicine remain undocumented secrets due to unwillingness of practitioners to divulge details for various reasons. Ethnobotanical surveys, if carried out systematically, can bring to light many of these herbal remedies which could serve as starting points for further pharmacological investigations and biotechnological studies. Micropropagation and plant tissue culture can play a key role in rapid, clonal mass propagation of medicinal and aromatic plants which are being overexploited. Secondary metabolite production by medicinal and aromatic plants can be enhanced using biotransformations and hairy-root cultures in bioreactors. A synthetic outlook to integrate traditional and modern medicine will go a long way in alleviating health-related disorders which are an impediment to progress in the medical domain.