Organized by body system and ailment makes it easy to locate appropriate therapies. Includes background on the physiology of major systems and ailments so readers can understand how and why a pharmaceutical, botanical, or dietary supplement works. Broad coverage includes green plants, fungi, and microorganisms. Includes extensive references and citations from both conventional and complimentary-alternative medical systems when natural products or their derivatives are involved.
The global popularity of herbal supplements and the promise they hold in treating various disease states has caused an unprecedented interest in understanding the molecular basis of the biological activity of traditional remedies. Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects focuses on presenting current scientific evidence of biomolecular ef
Although it rarely receives the attention it deserves from anthropologists, medical herbalism is perhaps the most widespread and most ancient form of therapy. This book describes in detail one such herbalist tradition, that found in southern Malawi. Offering the first comprehensive examination of medical herbalism in Malawi, this study combines anthropological and botanical insights into medical herbalism. The book is divided into two parts: the first outlines the ethnographic context of the herbalist tradition with discussion of Chewa ethnobotany and the local classification of plants; the various categories of medicine that are expressed in the local culture; the nature and scope of folk herbalism, its practitioners and its relation to biomedicine; local conceptions of disease; and beliefs relating to witchcraft and divination. The second part, which incorporates the researches of a Malawian chemist, Dr Jerome Msonthi, contains detailed information on over 500 Malawian plants with notes on their local names, distribution, botanical descriptions and various medicinal uses.
The potential benefits of plants and plant extracts in the treatment and possible prevention of many leading health concerns are historically well known and are becoming more widely studied and recognized within the medical community. It is these studies that led to the first compilation of new research developments, identifying new extracts and uses for plants in disease prevention and treatment. This major comprehensive reference work contains contributions from more than 150 clinical and academic experts covering topics such as treatments of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, as well as historical plant use by indigenous people supported by recent scientific studies. Authors review the safety and efficacy of botanical treatments while idenifying the sources, historical supportive data and mechanisms of action for emerging treatments. Written by researchers currently carrying out identification and biomedical testing, this is the most up to date text on the latest research from all over the world. It is an essential resource for health care practitioners and herbalists, as well as researcher, students and professionals in botany and alternative medicine.
A beautifully illustrated, informative, and engaging guide to 100 plants used for medicinal purposes. Remedies derived from plants are the world's oldest medicines. Used extensively in China, India, and many African countries, herbal medicine has become increasingly popular in the West along with other holistic and alternative therapies. Botanicum Medicinale offers a modern guide to 100 medicinal plants, featuring beautiful, full-color botanical illustrations and informative, engaging text. Each entry describes the plant's classification and habitat, traditional and current medicinal uses, and an interesting fact or two. Readers will learn, for example, that absinthe, the highly alcoholic, vividly green potable, was traditionally flavored with bitter wormwood (Artemesia absinthium); that cannabis may have been used by Queen Victoria for menstrual pain; and that willow bark contains a chemical similar to aspirin. Detailed and striking artwork depicts each plant. The entries are arranged alphabetically—from Adonis vernalis (a perennial in the buttercup family) to Vinca minor (also known as the common periwinkle). The 100 plants featured in the book all have a long history of medicinal use or are the subject of new medical research. Many treat a range of conditions, from insomnia to indigestion. Some plants are lovely enough to be in a bridal bouquet; others are considered weeds. Cross-reference features at the end of the book connect specific medical conditions and the plants used to treat them.
The world view of the Iroquois League or Confederacy—the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora nations—is based on a strong cosmological belief system. This is especially evident in Iroquois medical practices, which connect man to nature and the powerful forces in the supernatural realm. Iroquois Medical Botany is the first guide to understanding the use of herbal medicines in traditional Iroquois culture. It links Iroquois cosmology to cultural themes by showing the inherent spiritual power of plants and how the Iroquois traditionally have used and continue to use plants as remedies. After an introduction to the Iroquois doctrine of the cosmos, authors James Herrick and Dean Snow examine how ill health directly relates to the balance and subsequent disturbance of the forces in one’s life. They next turn to general perceptions of illness and the causes of imbalances, which can result in physical manifestations from birthmarks and toothaches to sunstroke and cancer. In all, they list close to 300 phenomena. Finally, the book enumerates specific plant regimens for various ailments with a major compilation from numerous Iroquois authorities and sources of more than 450 native names, uses, and preparations of plants.
As in previous volumes, readers will find a multidisciplinary forum for communicating knowledge related to the botany, horticulture, and pharmacology of herbs, spices, and medicinal plants. While magical and mystical powers have been associated with these plants through the ages, continued investigations in such areas as production, nomenclature, uses, chemical constitution, and dynamics help elucidate the affiliated chemical and physical processes that contribute to their unique flavor, fragrance, pharmacological, and other bioactive properties. This collection of articles examines the potential of natural products as pesticides, the richness of the Chinese Pharmacopeia, the similarities of Eastern Asian and Eastern North American medicinal plants, the use of borage as a source of gamma linolenic acid, and the botanical nomenclature of medicinal plants.
This unique reference book meticulously lists a vast variety of the extensive South American flora, in particular the one of Venezuela. Pharmacists, pharmacologists, toxicologists and botanists will find that this encyclopaedia unprecedented in depth and detail. In an A-Z format, more than 80 plant families are covered. Botanical information of the individual species is given together with their specific use in traditional South American medicine. More than 250 detailed figures allow easy identification.
As the first botanical history of World War II, Plants Go to War examines military history from the perspective of plant science. From victory gardens to drugs, timber, rubber, and fibers, plants supplied materials with key roles in victory. Vegetables provided the wartime diet both in North America and Europe, where vitamin-rich carrots, cabbages, and potatoes nourished millions. Chicle and cacao provided the chewing gum and chocolate bars in military rations. In England and Germany, herbs replaced pharmaceutical drugs; feverbark was in demand to treat malaria, and penicillin culture used a growth medium made from corn. Rubber was needed for gas masks and barrage balloons, while cotton and hemp provided clothing, canvas, and rope. Timber was used to manufacture Mosquito bombers, and wood gasification and coal replaced petroleum in European vehicles. Lebensraum, the Nazi desire for agricultural land, drove Germans eastward; troops weaponized conifers with shell bursts that caused splintering. Ironically, the Nazis condemned non-native plants, but adopted useful Asian soybeans and Mediterranean herbs. Jungle warfare and camouflage required botanical knowledge, and survival manuals detailed edible plants on Pacific islands. Botanical gardens relocated valuable specimens to safe areas, and while remote locations provided opportunities for field botany, Trees surviving in Hiroshima and Nagasaki live as a symbol of rebirth after vast destruction.
Pengelly's user friendly text will encourage educators in medical science to consider using this material in the complementary medicine/nutraceuticals areas May I congratulate Andrew Pengelly for writing this text as it is going to be very popular with undergraduate students as well as more experienced readers.' D. Green, London Metropolitan University, UK This unique book explains in simple terms the commonly occurring chemical constituents of medicinal plants. The major classes of plant constituents such as phenols, terpenes and polysaccharides, are described both in terms of their chemical structures and their pharmacological activities. Identifying specific chemical compounds provides insights into traditional and clinical use of these herbs, as well as potential for adverse reactions. Features include: * Over 100 diagrams of chemical structures * References to original research studies and clinical trials * References to plants commonly used throughout Europe, North America and Australasia. Written by an experienced herbal practitioner, The Constituents of Medicinal Plants seriously challenges any suggestion that herbal medicine remains untested and unproven, including as it does hundreds of references to original research studies and trials. Designed as an undergraduate text, the first edition of this book became an essential desktop reference for health practitioners, lecturers, researchers, producers and anyone with an interest in how medicinal herbs work. This edition has been extensively revised to incorporate up-to-date research and additional sections, including an expanded introduction to plant molecular structures, and is destined to become a classic in the literature of herbal medicine.
