Traditional Knowledge Databases of Medicinal Plants

The traditional system of medicine harnesses the potency of medicinal plants for remedying a variety of ailments, and this medicinal knowledge is deeply embedded in a multitude of global cultures. The repositories of traditional knowledge provide invaluable information and play a pivotal role in conserving, disseminating, and enriching our understanding of the therapeutic potential of flora across the globe. Medicinal plant databases have now become indispensable in organizing new scientific literature emerging in the realm of herbal medicine, as well as novel drug discoveries in this age of information. The information of existing databases available throughout the world in digital form was retrieved through Google Search. Among the assorted databases, World Herbal Encyclopedia (WHE) was found to be the most extensive compendium, collating traditional knowledge of approximately 60,000 medicinal plants that are used in different conventional therapeutic systems across the globe. This chapter is focused on comprehensive details of other existing databases of medicinal plants from various countries and their unique features.