Aromatic and medicinal plants are not only used in the pharmaceutical,
cosmetic and food processing industries, as we have seen, but they have many other
uses, increasing in number every day as new uses are researched and discovered. These
other uses of MAPs are very important due to their growing economic importance and
market possibilities. Natural dyes, pesticides, fungicides and insecticides, gums, resins,
turpentines, allelopathic substances and tannins are some of them. Plant extracts have
been used as insecticides since before ancient Rome, a practice that continues today
with more than 2,000 species. There are different strategies and the compounds, such
as allopathic substances, can be found in plants of different species. Resins, tannins,
gums and balsams have been widely used until today and new products are still based
on their natural properties.
Keywords: Allopathic substances, Balsams, Crop protection, Dyes, Fungicides,
Gums, Insect control, Insecticides, Pesticides, Resins, Tanning, Tannins,
Turpentines.
