CHAPTER 1Chapter-1. Introduction1.1 General introduction 2-51.2 Indian system medicine 5-111.3 Herbal industry 12-131.4 Amaranth 13-151.5 Plant selection 15-17CHAPTER 11.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION:The history of phytotherapy consists of retracing the history of civilization itself. The discovery of some plants for their healing properties must have arisen from instinct. Traditional medicine is an evolutionary process as communities and individuals continue to discover new techniques for treating disease that can transform into medical practices. We should credit our ancestors with the wisdom that identified the species with medicinal properties. Plants, animals and minerals have been used for the treatment of human diseases since time immemorial. Plants, in particular, have been the foundation of numerous traditional medicinal systems around the world to provide humanity with new remedies for thousands of years and continue to continue. Plant-based medicines are mostly dispensed in raw form such as teas, tinctures and poultices, which now form the basis for the invention of new drugs. In India, herbs have traditionally been used for human and veterinary healthcare and in the food and textile industries. Ninety percent of indigenous people know that local food resources are not documented, neither by nutritional literature, nor by trade nor by cosmetics; but India has a special position in the field of herbal medicines, as it is one of the few countries that can cultivate most of the important plants used in both modern and traditional systems of medicine. India has a rich flora due to the wide variation in climate, soil and altitude conditions. climate, soil, altitude/latitude and rich flora. Throughout the...... middle of paper ......h Africa leaf is used as abortifacient43,44.Amaranthus viridis Linn (Amaranthaceae), commonly called 'Chilaka ThotaKura' in Telugu, has been used in the traditional Indian and Nepalese system to reduce labor pain and act as an antipyretic32,45. The bruised leaves are applied directly to psoriasis, eczema and rashes by the Negritos of the Philippines42. Other ethnomedicinal uses are as a vermifuge, anti-inflammatory diuretic agent, antirheumatic, antileprotic, antiulcer, analgesic, antiemetic, laxative, appetite improver, for the treatment of respiratory problems, ocular problems, venereal diseases, for the treatment of asthma 32,46, 47-53.The three selected plants have no scientific data regarding pharmacognostic, phytochemical and pharmacological activities (antioxidant, alpha amylase inhibition assay, antipyretic, analgesic, anthelmental, antimicrobial and laxative).