Weeds or useful medicinal plants in the rural home garden?

Background: Traditional medicines remain an important health-care service among African indigenous cultures. In South Africa, medicinal plant use (bark, roots, bulbs, and herbs) threatens biodiversity and the sustainability of this informal industry. Several realities have stimulated experimental and adaptive management research into cultivation of key high-demand medicinal plant species in and around the home gardens of poor rural communities for domestic use and for trade: declining supplies, localized extinctions, increasing market prices, and economic opportunities for commercializing traditional medicinal products.