As region, ASEAN is blessed with enormously rich forests hosting vastly diverse fauna and flora, it is also a home to a big number of indigeneous communities with very diverse culutral and religious  beliefs and customary practices. Traditionally use to treat various kind of ilnesses and disorders,  collecting naturally-occuring medicinal plants has taken place in Asia since prehistoric time. Most  herbs are found in home gardens and are easily accesible, others however may not be as common and are therefore not readily recognized for their medicinal potential. At present, such activity, although limited in amount in most countries, are still carried out with the objectives of using them in traditional medicine or for processing into pharmaceutical products. It generates income to the native people, provides raw material at a low cost, and access  to material which are not available through cultivation.