Ethnobotany had become famous globally. This is proven by market for herbal pharmaceutical in United States estimated to value of US $124 billion for 1998 while in Japan is about US $47 billion [1]. In Malaysia, value of imports of medicinal and aromatic plants has continued to grow and reach a record of RM 653 million in 2001 and expected to increase even further.
Thus, there are also multipurpose uses of plant as mention in the diagram above. Plant can be apply as a food, shelter, clothing, medicine and also in the culture of a particular ethnics.
Reference
- Kate K. T. , Laird S.A. The commercial use of biodiversity : Access to genetic resources and benefit sharing. London: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
