Аннотация:The medicinal plants of the steppes are a very important source of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry and are used widely in official and ethnic medicine. They contain higher concentrations of biologically active substances compared with equivalent species from northern habitats. “Officinal” plants (from the Latin officina—a monastery storeroom for medicines) are those permitted for medical use by the Russian Ministry of Health; the steppes contain 113 such species from 96 genera and 43 families—105 aboriginal wild-growing species and eight introduced species cultivated on open ground. In official medicine, such plants are used to treat 14 principal classes of diseases (according to ICD-10). This article studies the regional specifics of flora (variety of officinal plant species composition, their effective substances, indications and contraindications for use, current state of resources, protection and principal uses) within the limits of the three steppe biomes on Russian territory. A very wide variety of wild-growing and cultivated officinal plants are found in the Black-Sea-Ciscaucasian steppe biome. The territory of natural communities is shrinking as a result of the steppes’ agricultural use for cattle breeding and crop production. The flora of medicinal plants is endangered—25 species of officinal plants are included in the Russian Federation and regional Red Data Books; the specially protected natural zones are inadequate for conserving their populations. The introduction of medicinal plants into agriculture may be an efficient means of using this important resource optimally.