Necessity, Importance, and Applications of Traditional Medicine Knowledge in Different Nations

Most drugs of plant origin have been obtained by studying the traditional treatments andknowledge of ancient peoples. In spite of great advancements in chemical synthesis, some of these compounds cannot still be replaced. Ethnobotany deals with the ways people of a society use plants. The science is known as an efficient tool to extract the native knowledge of using plants. During past decade, targeted evaluation of local pharmacopeia with the vision of developing novel drugs has been performed by many national and international organizations. The positive approach of scientists and increased tendency of governments to cooperate in ethnobotany projects shows the increasing value of information obtained in these studies. Registration and evaluation of written and non-written scientific heritage of traditional medicine of different Iranian ethnic groups can preserve the valuable treasure of multi-thousand-year-old knowledge and experiment of Iranians in medicine. This will also lead to discovery of novel medicines and achievements in pharmaceutical industry.