Inventory, Documentation of Conserved Medicinal Plants and a Status of Medicinal Plant Research in the Philippines

• Published in: The Journal of the Korean Society of International Agriculture Vol. 20; no. 2
• Main Authors: Lee, S.Y. (National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, RDA, Suwon, Republic of Korea), Kang, H.K. (Kongju National University, Yeasan, Republic of Korea), Lee, J.R. (National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, RDA, Suwon, Republic of Korea), Eusebio, Jocelyn E. (Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines), Kim, J.S. (National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, RDA, Suwon, Republic of Korea), Kim, T.S. (National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, RDA, Suwon, Republic of Korea), Gwag, J.G. (National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, RDA, Suwon, Republic of Korea), E-mail: jg1000@rda.go.kr
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 30.06.2008
• Subjects: COLECCIONES; COLLECTION; COLLECTIONS; conservation; DRUG PLANTS; PLANTAS MEDICINALES; PLANTE MEDICINALE; use
• ISSN: 1225-8504

In the philippines, proponents of alternative medicine have been creating greater awareness on the use of herbs to treat various ailments. In this review, a total of 227 species of medicinal plants which covered 167 genus from the 72 family. The most abundant family is Fabaceae, which includes Cassia sp., as 27 species in the 21 genus. In the use of medicinal plants, 44 species of medicinal plants were used as curing in diarrhea, and 27 and 24 species of medicinal plants were used as diuretic and wounds curing purpose, respectively. The ten priority medicinal plants indicated were Vitex negundo (lagundi), Mentha x Cordifolia (yerba buena), Blumea balsamifera (sambong), Ehretia microphylla (tsaang gubat), Quisqualis indica (niyog-niyogan), Cassia alata (akapulko), Psidum guajava (bayabas), Allium sativum (bawang), Peperomia pellicida (ulasimang bato), and Momordica charantia (ampalaya). In the conservation, The Ecosystem Research and Development Bureau of Department of Natural Resources conserved biggest ex-situ collection as 183 species of medicinal plants. The research areas of medicinal plants were indicated as validation of characterization and conservation, production technology, processing method, marketing and policy issues. Both government and non-government agencies are active in medicinal plant research, development, and business, and while the government sector focused more on basic area such as inventory and documentation, database harmonization/development/sharing, and identify medicinal plants for specific uses, such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, arthritis/rheumatism and tonic, the private sector focused more on market channels development and research on herbal veterinary medicine.