This book provides a description on medicinal plants of Laos, including their role in maintaining health care among the population, their potential as a source for new medicinal compounds, their preservation, and their importance to the well being of the communities for present and future generations. The focus of this book is to draw on the rich culture, folklore, and environment of medicinal plants in the country. This is an opportunity to describe medicinal plants from a scientifically under-represented area, with the hope of being an important contribution to the knowledge of the region for both academics and scientists. Features Describes terrestrial medicinal plants from a scientifically under-represented region. Includes a wider variety of plants than previously published. Focuses on the rich culture, folklore, and environment of medicinal plants in Laos. Provides an important contribution to the knowledge of the region, and will benefit both academics and scientists in the field.

This book highlights the common ground between biomedicine and traditional healing. Because of the destruction of forests, the degradation of old palm leaf manuscripts, and decreasing interest in traditional medicine by younger generations, it is becoming more and more important to record medicinal plant knowledge before it is lost. This research provides written and photographic documentation of some of the medicinal plant knowledge held by the people of Laos. Translating and validating some of the power of traditional medicine used in Laos into biomedical terms through laboratory analyses may serve to demonstrate its importance in a global language. In this text, the translational research was performed through in vitro laboratory analyses of select plant species with a history to treat symptoms of TB. The processes of plant collection, extraction, biological assays, and isolation/elucidation are also described and detailed in the Biochemical Validation section. The biomedical discoveries explored in, Ethnobotany of Tuberculosis in Laos, stresses the importance of conserving and sustaining our natural ecosystems for medicinal preservation and utilization.