Papers presented at the National Workshop on Sustainable Management of Natural Gums and Resins, held at Jabalpur during 21-22 December 2012.

Deserts appear very fascinating during our short visits. However, the lives of plants and animals are very dif?cult under the harsh climatic conditions of high tempe- ture and scant water supply in deserts, sometimes associated with high concent- tions of salt. The editor of this book was born and brought up in the Great Indian Desert, and has spent much of his life studying the growth and metabolism of desert plants. It is very charming on a cool summer evening to sit at the top of a sand dune listening only to blowing air and nothing else. It has been my dream to prepare a volume on desert plants encompassing various aspects of desert plant biology. In this book, I have tried to present functional and useful aspects of the vegetation resources of deserts along with scienti?c input aimed at understanding and impr- ing the utility of these plants. The scant vegetation of deserts supports animal life and provides many useful medicines, timber and fuel wood for humans. Therefore, there are chapters devoted to medicinal plants (Chap. 1), halophytes (Chaps. 13, 14), and fruit plants (Chaps. 17, 20). Desert plants have a unique reproductive biology (Chaps. 9–11), well-adapted eco-physiological and anatomical charact- istics (Chap. 7), and specialised metabolism and survival abilities. These plants are dif?cult to propagate and pose many problems to researchers developing biote- nological approaches for their amelioration (Chaps. 18–20).

Considered magicians of the ingredient world, gums (hydrocolloids) are used in a variety of food applications. They possess excellent thickening, binding, emulsifying, suspension, and viscosity properties. The first comprehensive reference produced on gums in 60 years, this work is organized by taxonomy. Each entry contains the botanical name and synonyms of the tree from which it is exuded, common names, geographic distribution, chemical characteristics and structural features, physical properties, and industrial and food applications. The uses of other parts of the trees from which the gums originate are also detailed. Entries are illustrated with color photos and line drawings.

Gums, resins and latexes are a most widely used and traded category of non-wood forest products. The uses of gums embrace food, pharmaceutical and miscellaneous technical applications. Resins have an equally diverse range of applications including their use in paints, varnishes and lacquers, and flavours and fragrances. Latexes are used in specialised applications such as insulating materials and in the manufacture of golf balls and chewing gum. There has been a decline in their use due to competition from synthetic products. This document contains a review of the production, markets and developmental potential of a number of gums, resins and latexes.

Industrial Gums: Polysaccharides and their Derivatives, Second Edition covers the biochemical approaches to the modification and production of natural synthetic gums. This book is organized into two main parts encompassing 31 chapters. The first part deals with natural gums, including seaweed extracts, plant exudates and extracts, seed gums, and animal extracts. Considerable chapters in this part discuss the preparation, structure, derivatives, biosynthesis, and economics of these natural gums. The second part explores the industrial production, structure, and properties of synthetic gums, such as scleroglucan, dextrans, and starch and cellulose derivatives. Scientists, research workers, and manufacturers of both natural and synthetically prepared gums will find this book invaluable.

This new 5-volume set, Ethnobotany of India, provides an informative overview of human-plant interrelationships in India, focusing on the regional plants and their medicinal properties and uses. Each volume focuses on a different significant region of India, including Volume 1: Eastern Ghats and Deccan Volume 2: Western Ghats and West Coast of Peninsular India Volume 3: North-East India and Andaman and Nicobar Islands Volume 4: Western and Central Himalaya Volume 5: The Indo-Gangetic Region and Central India With chapters written by experts in the field, the book provides comprehensive information on the tribals (the indigenous populations of the region) and knowledge on plants that grow around them. Each volume includes an introductory chapter with an overview of the region and then goes on to cover ethnic diversity and culture of the ethnic tribes plants used for healing and medical purposes for humans and animals ethnic food plants and ethnic food preparation specific information on the ethnomedicinal plants, the parts used, and the diseases cured other uses of plants by the ethnic tribes, such as for fiber, dyes, flavor, and recreation conservation, documentation, and management efforts of the ethnic communities and their plant knowledge The books include the details of the plants used, their scientific names, the parts used, and how the plants are used, providing the what, how, and why of plant usage. The volumes are well illustrated with over 100 color and 130 b/w illustrations. Together, the five volumes in the Ethnobotany of India series bring together the available ethnobotanical knowledge of India in one place. India is one of the most important regions of the old world, and its ancient and culturally rich and diverse knowledge of ethnobotany will be valuable to many in the fields of botany and plant sciences, pharmacognosy and pharmacology, nutraceuticals, and others. The books also consider the threat to plant biodiversity imposed by environmental degradation, which impacts cultural diversity.

Taxol, originally derived from the North American Yew tree in 1971, is well-known worldwide as a powerful anticancer agent. Mechanistically, it has a unique microtubule stabilizing activity, and was clinically developed as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of breast and ovarian cancers at the National Cancer Institute, Washington D.C., USA. I