Contents: Foreword. Preface. 1. Ethnobotany/D.C. Pal. 2. Ethnic and folklore knowledge: gateway to the sustainable use of plant diversity/Anil K. Goel. 3. Some promising wild aromatic species of Western Ghats: conservation and utilization/R. Murugan and R.R. Rao. 4. Indigenous practice of treatment of some diseases by the Bodo Tribe in Sonitpur District of Assam, India/A. Kar and S.K. Borthakur. 5. Significant plants used by the Nyishi Tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India/Hui Tag and A.K. Das. 6. Ethnobotanical studies in Darjeeling Himalaya in relation to birth, marriage and death/Santosh Kumar Rai, R.B. Bhujel and A.P. Das. 7. Some wild edible and other useful plants of Similipal Biosphere Reserve, India/S.D. Rout and A.K. Pandey. 8. Wild edible plants of Dihang Dibang Biosphere Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, India/P.R. Gajurel, P. Rethy and B. Singh. 9. Some ethnomedicinal plants of Nagaland, India/S.K. Chaturvedi and N.S. Jamir. 10. Ethnomedicinal plants for diabetes, jaundice and rheumatism in Karnataka and their comparison with Northeast India/Rajendra Kshirsagar and Arvind Saklani. 11. Plants used as ethnoveterinary medicine in Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur Districts of West Bengal, India/S. Mitra and Sobhan Kr. Mukherjee. 12. Ethnobotany of Kheria, Lodha and Munda Tribes in the Lateritic West Bengal: changing perspectives/Sudipta Kumar Maiti, T.K. Mishra and Moumita Mishra. 13. Plants of ethnobotanical significance for the tea garden workers in Terai and Duars of Darjeeling in West Bengal, India/Chandra Ghosh and A.P. Das. 14. Notes on folkmedicine of the Khasis of Meghalaya, India/A.A. Ahmed and S.K. Borthakur. 15. Sacred angiospermic plants and their relevance to the life of indigenous people in Santhal Pargana (Jharkhand), India/S.P. Roy and Jayashree Datta Munshi. 16. Ethnobotanical observations in the Barind region of Bangladesh/Sabyasachi Saha. 17. Ethnomedicinal plants used by the tribal people of Khandwa District of Madhya Pradesh, India/S.K. Mahajan and Skakun Mishra. 18. Ethnic uses of honey in Sikkim and Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, India/S.K. Mukherjee, A.P. Das and Subir Bera. 19. Ethnobotanical observations in Pench National Park, Maharashtra, India/Alka Chaturvedi and G. Phani Kumar. 20. Diuretic plants of West Nimar District of Madhya Pradesh, India/S.K. Mahajan and Pushpa Patel. 21. Ethnomedicinal uses of animal biodiversity by tribal people of Santhal Pargana in Jharkhand, India/S.P. Roy and B.K. Singh. 22. Dye and gum yielding plants of Darjeeling Himalaya, India/Santosh Kumar Rai and R.B. Bhujel. 23. Uses of Corolla in tribal medicine in West Medinipur District of West Bengal, India/Sauris Panda and A.P. Das. 24. Ethnobotany of Rajbanshies of Apalchand Reserve, Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India/Suchandra R. Dutta. 25. Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisbury): an important aquatic crop of India/Vidyanath Jha. 26. Ethnomedicobiology of Similipal Biosphere Reserve, Orissa/S.D. Rout and A.K. Pandey. 27. NTFP and tribal life in Chotonagpur, Jharkhand, India/Sanjeev Kumar. 28. Wild edible plants used by the tribal people of Vizianagaram District, Andhra Pradesh, India/M.K. Lakshmi and K. Lakshminarayana. 29. Ethnomedicinal uses of some taxa of Lamiaceae in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, India/Amruta Jain and Alka Chaturvedi. 30. Folk medicines used by the Rabha Tribe in Coochbehar District of West Bengal: a preliminary report/Monoranjan Chowdhury and A.P. Das. 31. Anticancerous activities of some members of Euphorbiaceae/Phani Kumar G. and Alka Chaturvedi. 32. Scirpus articulatus L.: a subsidiary aquatic crop of Bihar floodplains/V. Jha and J.K. Handoo. 33. Economic uses of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae L.)/Arnab Sen, Ayon Pal and Debadin Bose. 34. Record of the plants used against leucoderma in India/R.K. Goel, B.N. Pandey, Rajul Goel and Nandjee Kumar.

Like his primate relatives, Man was also originated and grown up in natural surroundings. From other animals he was different only with his better intelligence and that has created the havoc. Using his intelligence he was able to select better edible plants, better hunting equipments, improving the comfort in natural shelters like caves and was also trying to recognise the properties of different plants to get relief from the physical discomforts they were experiencing.

Man has migrated almost in all the corners of this planet and in each of such settlements he was interacting with the local environment, identifying and learning the uses of local biological elements. In this process he accumulated a huge bulk of traditional knowledge only a microscopic fraction of which is now used in the civilized society and the unused bulk contains much useful information.

Extension of the facilities of modern civilisation and the destruction of natural habitat for biodiversity elements changing the life style of traditional people and they are loosing their hard earned knowledge very fast. This has forced the development of the subject Ethnobotany and today everybody realise the importance of practicing this younger branch of science.

The book, Advances in Ethnobotany is the collection of 34 articles those were presented at the XIII Annual Conference of Indian Association of Angiosperm Taxonomy (IAAT) and International Symposium on Plant Taxonomy: Advances and Relevance held at the University Department of Botany, TM Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur (November 14-15, 2003). The book will cater to the needs of students, research scholars, teachers and others interested in the field of Ethnobotany." (jacket)