The agrobiodiversity of medicinal and aromatic plants in Iran

The stable production and sustainability of agroecosystems are highly threatened by modern farming systems which focus on uniformity and narrow diversity of species. Wild harvested and semi domesticated plant species play an enormous role in biodiversity of traditional agricultural systems, and many of them with medicinal and traditional agricultural systems, and many of them with medicinal and industrial properties are introduced as new crops to global markets. The results showed that nearly 55 species with medicinal and aromatic properties are cultivated in Iran. The Shannon index for these species was 0.64. Their cultivated land areas include 0.‌87 % of the total arable lands of the country. Khorasan province has the highest cultivated land areas and agrobiodiversity of medicinal and aromatic plant species in Iran.