Synopsis This book comprises 20 articles contributed by leading botanists of the country. There is a wealth of information ranging from the Portuguese and Dutch exploration in the 16th and 17th century Malabar and their socio-cultural impact, microbial interaction, environmental biology, plant resources, conservation and improvement, macrophyte diversity of wetlands, biodiversity of wild mushrooms, management of Fusarium wilt disease and phytoparasitic nematodes, physiological studies on boll rot of cotton, ecology of dwarf bamboo of Central Himalaya, plant growth response to air pollution stress, paradox of biological invasion, terrestrial ecosystem effect of heavy metal sin plants, tropical rain forest of Nagaland, conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants with their export potential, role of ethnobotany in conservation and genetic improvement of crop plants.