Medicinal plants at the ethnobotany–biotechnology interface in Africa

Abstract

Africa bears a long history of people–plant interaction that has been significantly enhanced by biotechnology. Ethnomedicinal plants have been targeted in the search for new natural products but their exploitation has led to concern for their conservation. Biotechnology has applications that extend beyond conservation to optimising natural product research and adding value to useful plants. African ethnomedicinal plants with valuable secondary metabolites and established in vitro propagation protocols may be likely candidates for genetic transformation when biotechnology becomes more accessible on the continent. The ethnic and floral wealth of southern Africa lends a prime example of how biotechnology may enrich people–plant interactions.