Prof. Alamgir has been working as professor in the Department of Botany, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, for the last 30 years. He teaches plant physiology, biochemistry and pharmacognosy at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

• I. Introduction.- II. Defination, scope, importance and history of development of pharmacognosy.- III. Medicinal, nonmedicinal, biopesticidic, colors and dye yielding plants; secondary metabolites and drug principles; medicinal plants in the systems of traditional medicine.- IV. Drugs, their natural, synthetic and biosynthetic sources.- V. Classification of drugs, nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals; proteins, peptides and enzymes as drugs.- VI. Pharmacognosical botany- taxonomy, morphology and anatomy of drug plants.- VII. Pharmacopoeia, herbal monographs and WHO’s guide lines.- VIII. Fibers, surgical dressings and bandages of natural origin.-IX. Production and trade of herbal drugs - cultivation, collection, storage and trade of crude drugs; herbal wealth and national economy.- X. Methods of preparation of crude drugs and their evaluation, quality control and standardization. XI. Microscopy in pharmacognosy. XII. Intellectual property.- Bibliography.- Index