Synopsis Herbs generally denotes medicinal plants, even though botanically, it means plants with soft stem and branches. A good number of these plants are being lost due to various factors like deforestation, indiscriminate collection/over-exploitation, forest fire and due to trampling by wild animals. Out of the 2.5 lakh species of flowering plants, more than 80,000 (about 30 per cent) are reported to be medicinal. At present, about 15,000 plant species are exploited for medicinal properties, which include 7000 in Ayurveda, 700 in Unani, 600 in Sidha, 450 in homeopathy and 30 in modern medicine.

In this book, attempts have been made to describe 154 medicinal plants, classified according to the purpose for which they are used. Informations with regard to the scientific name, family, vernacular name, distribution, morphology, production technology, part used, active principles present and medicinal use along with a colour photograph are presented for each species. The whole book is divided into 12 chapters and the number of plants in each chapter vary. Eventhough, the title of the book is herbs for the mankind, herbs, shrubs, creepers and climbers and trees all have been included in this book. The overall objective is to disseminate the informations with respect to the common medicinal plants and to create awareness among those people who are interested to perpetuate them for the future generations.