African Natural Plant Products: New Discoveries and Challenges in Chemistry and Quality

Africa has been and continues to be a significant source of medicinal and aromatic plants and botanicals to the world's food, drug, herb and dietary supplement market, and in the past decade numerous African plant materials have established a strong international market presence. This book provides an excellent opportunity to delve into the current and future contributions that African plants can and will continue to make both internal to Africa and on the global stage. This book expertly covers various medicinal plants of African origin and the some of the latest basic and clinical research supporting their ongoing and potential uses in self-care and healthcare. This work also examines various issues and trends in medicinal plants from their uses in Traditional Medicine and ethnobotany, to our modern understanding of the plants chemistry and pharmacognosy, natural products chemistry and applications of medicinal plants, quality control, and models of benefit sharing.

H. Rodolfo Juliani is a Plant Biologist currently working as a Research Associate at the Plant Biology and Pathology Department at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He serve as the Quality Assurance and Quality Control Coordinator for the international development programs PFID/NP and ASNAPP, and as the Associate Director of the New Use Agriculture and Natural Plant Products program (NUANPP).

James E. Simon is currently a Professor in the Department of Plant Biology and Plant Pathology, and serves as the Director of the New Use Agriculture and Natural Plant Products Program, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, which seeks to identify new crop opportunities, new applications of bioactive and nutritious plant compounds and new products from fruits, vegetables and herbs including nutraceutical, bioactive and cosmetic ingredients.

Chi-Tang Ho is currently Professor II in the Department of Food Science, Rutgers University. He has published over 450 scientific articles, and is an editorial board member for a variety of publications, including the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.