Exploring Poisonous Plants Medicinal Values, Toxicity Responses, and Therapeutic Uses

Poisonous plants are used in traditional medicine systems in various healing therapies. They are a rich resource of ingredients used in herbal drug formulations that are also used in the development of synthetic drugs. They are recognized for their antioxidant, anti-inflammation, anti-cancer, and anti-diabetic activities and for many other health benefits. Exploring Poisonous Plants: Medicinal Values, Toxicity Responses, and Therapeutic Uses provides an analysis of the most important poisonous herbs, shrubs, and trees, detailing poisonous plants while demonstrating endorsements for their potential therapeutic values. Features: Presents therapeutic potentials on various poisonous herbs, shrubs, and trees. Provides descriptions of notable toxic compounds and discusses their adverse effects when consumed by animals or people. Gives practical guidance for botanical description, distribution, phytochemical constituents, pharmacological studies, and traditional and other potential uses of selected poisonous plants. This volume in the Exploring Medicinal Plants series is appropriate for scientists, researchers, and students working with poisonous plants, as well as in areas of economic botany, plant biochemistry, biotechnology, pharmacognosy, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemistry, and nanomedicine.

Section A: General Information. Poisonous Plants: An Overview. Biotechnological Approaches in Poisonous Plants. Uses of Poisonous Plants in Nanoscience. Conservation Practice of Poisonous Plants. Section B: Poisonous Plants. Abrus precatorius (Rosary Pea). Aconitum napellus (Monkshood). Acorus calamus (Sway or Muskrat Root). Agapanthus orientalis (Lily of the Nile). Antiaris toxicaria (Upas Tree). Aristolochia indica (The Indian Birthwort). Atractylis gummifera (Stemless Atractylis). Atropa belladonna (Deadly Nightshade). Calotropis gigantea (Crown Flower or Giant Milkweed). Colchicum autumnale (Naked Ladies). Conium maculatum (Hemlock or Poison Hemlock). Datura stramonium (Thorn Apple or Devil’s Trumpet). Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove Plant). Gloriosa superba (Glory Lily). Nerium oleander (Oleander or Nerium). Ricinus communis (Castor Oil Plant). Thevetia peruviana (Yellow Oleander). Toxicodendron succedaneum (Rhus or Wax Tree)

Azamal Husen served as Professor & Head, Department of Biology, University of Gondar, Ethiopia and is a Foreign Delegate at Wolaita Sodo University, Wolaita, Ethiopia. He specializes in biogenic nanomaterial fabrication and application, plant responses to environmental stresses and nanomaterials at the physiological, biochemical and molecular levels, herbal medicine, and clonal propagation for improvement of tree species, and has published over 200 research articles. He is contributed to R&D projects of World Bank, ICAR, ICFRE, JBIC etc. He is on the advisory board of Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK. Husen has been on the Editorial Board and the panel of reviewers of several reputed journals. He is a Fellow of the Plantae group of the American Society of Plant Biologists, and a Member of the International Society of Root Research, Asian Council of Science Editors, and INPST. He is Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Plant Physiology, and a Series Editor of Exploring Medicinal Plants (Taylor & Francis Group, USA); Plant Biology, Sustainability, and Climate Change (Elsevier, USA); and Smart Nanomaterials Technology (Springer Nature, Singapore).