FOREWORD

As was agreed that the publishing should be realised in the first half of 1983, a number of authors did not succeed in having their paper ready for submission in time, so unfortunately a few had to be left out.

The Programme Committee as well as the ISHS are very grateful for the work done by the convener of this Acta, number 132, titled Third International Symposium on Spice and Medicinal Plants.


PREFACE

There is a more and more increasing interest in medicinal and spice plants as natural raw material. Due to the great variability of species, of each one of which - compared to other useful plants - often only low quantities are required, first it mainly were the disciplines ethno- pharmacy, phytochemistry and pharmacology which have been involved with such plants and their constituents. Plant sciences paid relatively poor attention to medicinal and spice plants; many of the species are collected as ever as wild plants on their natural growing sites.

Rising living standards, improved medical care together with a simultaneous increase in number of the world population are the reasons why the supply of the plant sources for medicaments and condiments no longer should be left to chance. At the same time the demands for definite, reproducable quality have risen, they only can be achieved by means of systematical production of homogeneous plant material. Nowadays it will no longer meet the requirements that certain quantities of a specific crop be supplied, but the output of a specific secondary plant product, or natural mixture of secondary substance (e.g. extracts, essential oils) has to be guaranteed. Phytochemical aspects have to be introduced into plant production.

Because of this situation, the importance of systematical production of medicinal and spice plants will increase. The following aspects are decisive for this development:

• shortage of fossile raw material;
• the trend to prefer natural products to synthetics;
• the requirements for purity and quality of the raw material;
• natural preserve (systematical production rather than collection on natural growing sites);
• the desire for diversification of the plant production.

Complementary to the ethnnomedicinal, pharmacognostical and phytochemical scientific societies, it is regarded the task of the new Section "Medicinal, Spice and Aromatic Plants" of the ISHS to represent, to coordinate and to promote research in the feild of breeding and production of these most important crops internationally.

Ch. Franz