Medicinal plants are plants possessing pharmacological activities of possible therapeutic use. A careful and planned investigation of the plants are needed in order to develop new drugs that meet the criteria of modern treatment.
The goals of research in this field are –

• The identification of the active principles of medicinal plants, and pharmacological investigation of the extracts in order to ensure that they are safe, effective, and of constant activity, and
• The isolation of these active principles, and determination of their structure and pharmacological effects.
• Chemical modification of the active principles to synthesise new compounds of greater therapeutic value.