Book excerpt: The book provides significant information on some of the promising edible medicinal plants and how these possess both nutritive as well as medicinal value. The significance of these edible plants in traditional medicine, their distribution in different regions and the importance of their chemical constituents are discussed systematically concerning the role of these plants in ethnomedicine in different regions of the world. The current volume focuses on the economic and culturally important medicinal uses of edible plants and a detailed survey of the literature on scientific researches of pharmacognostical characteristics, traditional uses, scientific validation, and phytochemical composition, and pharmacological activities. This book is a single-source scientific reference to explore the specific factors that contribute to these potential health benefits, as well as discussing how to maximize those potential benefits. Chemists, food technologists, pharmacologists, phytochemists as well as all professionals involved with quality control and standardization will find in this book a valuable and updated basis for their work.