title: Conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants: problems, progress, and prospects.
abstract: Medicinal plants are globally valuable sources of herbal products, and they are disappearing at a high speed. This article reviews global trends, developments and prospects for the strategies and methodologies concerning the conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plant resources to provide a reliable reference for the conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants. We emphasized that both conservation strategies (e.g. in situ and ex situ conservation and cultivation practices) and resource management (e.g. good agricultural practices and sustainable use solutions) should be adequately taken into account for the sustainable use of medicinal plant resources. We recommend that biotechnical approaches (e.g. tissue culture, micropropagation, synthetic seed technology, and molecular marker-based approaches) should be applied to improve yield and modify the potency of medicinal plants.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100700 China.
authors.forename: Shi-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100193 China ; Shandong Center of Crop Germplasm Resources, Jinan, 250100 China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100193 China.
authors.forename: Hong-Mei
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100193 China ; School of Pharmacy, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, 541004 China.
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100193 China.
authors.forename: Chun-Fang
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory, Centre de Recherche Public-Sante´, 1526 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steinmetz