2015 ASHS Annual Conference

August 02 - 07, 2015

The year 2013 marked another period of increase in sales of herbal dietary supplements, a total of $994 million. Among the most popular were cranberry, garlic, saw palmetto, soy and ginkgo, some of which have been used in traditional and indigenous medicines for centuries. The resurgence in popularity of botanical and herbal medicine is partly fueled by recent regulatory changes and interests among aging baby boomers who have become increasingly conscious of their health. Medicinal plants nowadays serve as a source of dietary supplements, crude drug materials, and pharmaceutical constituents that have gone through rigorous scrutiny. While many medicinal species have been domesticated and are now grown in the field or under controlled environment for harvesting, many remain wildcrafted both domestically and internationally. Excessive, non-sustainable collection of plants from the wild has resulted in loss or destruction of habitats, decrease in genetic diversity or even in some cases, extirpation, thereby possibly causing a loss of traditional usage and knowledge in medicinal plants. Many rare and endangered medicinal plants and their phytochemical constituents have not been thoroughly analyzed, screened or evaluated for their potential in health amelioration or other possible uses, creating substantial constraints and the need for germplasm preservation of medicinal plant species. The purpose of this colloquium is to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and specialists in various disciplines, including dietary supplements, natural product chemistry, pharmaceutical science, phramacognosy, horticulture, plant germplasm preservation, and indigenous medicine to address current issues and trends in herbs, spices and medicinal plant research. Specifically, we will discuss how to tackle issues in needed research or newly emerging areas such as medicinal plant uses in indigenous medicine, germplasm preservation, drug discovery, and quality control.