ABSTRACTS OF THE WORLD CONGRESS ON MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS, CAPE TOWN NOVEMBER 2008

In a meeting of the Secretariat of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) in Paris, nine international organizations decided to establish an international non-governmental body entitled: International Council for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ICMAP) [www.icmap.org] with the general objective of promoting international understanding and cooperation between national and international organizations on the role of medicinal and aromatic plants in science, medicine and industry, and to improve the exchange of information between them. One of the functions of ICMAP is to arrange a world conference on medicinal and aromatic plants [WOCMAP] every five years on different continents. The first was held in Europe [Maastricht, Netherlands 1992], the second in South America [Mendoza, Argentina 1997], and the third in Asia [Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2003]. ICMAP Bureau invited Prof J. N. Eloff, the Leader of the Phytomedicine Programme at the University of Pretoria to organize WOCMAP IV in South Africa in Cape Town in November 2008. With just more than 400 attendees WOCMAP was much smaller than previous WOCMAPs possibly due to the international financial crisis. A Business Forum and Trade Fair on medicinal and aromatic plants was also organized at the same time in the same venue to bring all the different role players in this field together. The scientific conference and Trade Fair was generously supported by several Private Companies and also by the South African Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation of South Africa. As in previous WOCMAPs The International Society for Horticultural Science has again agreed to publish the Proceedings in Acta Horticulturae. The presentations of the delegates who have submitted their manuscripts will eventually be available on their website. WOCMAP IV was privileged that some of the leading international figures accepted the invitation to deliver the plenary lectures. The rest of the oral and poster presentations were organized in different themes as presented below. We thank the Editor Prof Clement Awunmi for agreeing to publish the abstracts in the African Journal for Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Kobus Eloff Chairman Organizing Committee WOCMAP I