This book focuses on the botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology, clinical trials and future prospects of Catharanthus roseus, commonly known as ‘Sadabahar’. It explores botanical leads derived from various species of Catharanthus, emphasizing their significance in today’s context.Several species of Catharanthus are commonly used in traditional medicine and herbal formulations, particularly for cancer treatment, due to their bioactive compounds. The medicinal properties of these speci...

Piper is the representative genus of family Piperaceae. Piper species are pan-tropical in distribution and found in both the hemispheres. As the king of all spices, black pepper, Piper nigrum, led to the global expeditions culminating in the discovery of India and the new world. Piper species have been reported to possess various pharmacological activities such as insecticidal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiplatelet, anti-hypertensive, antithyroi...

Active botanical ingredients are a prime requirement for herbal formulations and discovering a drug is all about integration of science disciplines. In recent decades there has been a growing interest in treating wounds and diseases using traditional remedies based on local herbs, combined with chemical advances. Although this has led to the development of new bioactive ingredients from plants, there has been little success in terms of clinical trials and post-marketing studies to comply w...