Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.

 Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are botanical raw materials, also known as herbal drugs that are mostly used for aromatic, therapeutic and/or culinary purposes as components of cosmetics, medicinal products, health foods and other natural health products. They occur in nearly all terrestrial and even some aquatic ecosystems worldwide and have been used for therapeutic purposes since ancient times. Historical records trace their use in traditional medicine back more than 5,000 years across Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Persian medical systems. Much of the therapeutic use of medicinal plants today is rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems that have been carefully developed and passed down through generations.