Abstract

Afolayan A. J. * and Adebola P. O.

South Africa has a very rich plant biodiversity, many of which are medicinally useful. The rich resource is decreasing at an alarming rate as a result of over-exploitation. Plant in vitro regeneration is a biotechnological tool that offers a potential solution to this problem as it provides a means of putting the plants onto the market at lower prices. We present in this paper a review of micro propagation protocols developed for selected medicinal plants of South Africa and highlight the need for the utilization of this technology for the mass propagation of over-exploited medicinal plants in South Africa.