CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
The intimate relationship between the human and plant world has evolved over generations of experiences and practices. The tribal people and ethnic races throughout the world have developed their own culture, customs, cults, folk-fores, food, medical practices. (Kumar, 2019).In the name of development, as people moved away from Mother Nature, they became more prone to diseases. Most of the present day diseases are lifestyle diseases, however, there is again a revival of drugs being obtained from vegetable sources than at any time in history. (Kumar, 2019).A medicinal plant is any plant which in one or more of its parts contain substances that can be used for therapeutic purposes or which are precursors for the synthesis of useful drugs (Okigboet al., 2009). They are those plants are commonly used in treating and preventing specific ailments and diseases (Oluwole, 2016). Medicinalplants are now in a “comeback” phase with the last two decades seeing people shifting their focus back to the forgotten traditional natural green remedies. (Kumar, 2019).