Medicinal Plants of the World: Chemical Constituents, Traditional and Modern Medicinal Uses (Medicinal Plants of the World (Humana)) [Hardcover]

Ivan A. Ross (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1999 | Series: Medicinal Plants of the World (Humana) (Book 1)

An extraordinary compendium of information on herbal medicine, Medicinal Plants of the World, comprehensively documents the medicinal value of twenty-six major plant species widely used around the world in medical formulations. The book's exhaustive summary of available scientific data for the plant provides detailed information on how each plant is used in different countries, describing both traditional therapeutic applications and what is known from its use in clinical trials. Additional material presented includes a botanical description of each plant with a color photo of most plants for identification, the common names used for the plant throughout the world, and a listing of the plant's known chemical constituents. A comprehensive bibliography of over 1500 references illuminates the literature available from a wide range of disciplines. This book offers an unprecedented collection of vital scientific information for pharmacologists, herbal medicine practitioners, drug developers, medicinal chemists, phytochemists, toxicologists, and researchers who want to explore the use of plant materials for medicinal and related purposes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is a wonderful contribution to the knowledge of medicinal plants of the world...Mr. Ross is to be congratulated and complimented for such a well-done book. It is an invaluable resource that will become a critical reference to a great diversity of specialists in the fields of public health, chemistry, phytomedicine, ethnobotany, toxicology, and botany. - Journal of Natural Products The editor has neatly merged diffuse knowledge from a complex field to provide an educational resource pertinent to researchers, drug developers, and pharmaceutical and clinical services...an interesting introduction to the intriguing field of ethnopharmacology and traditional medicine. - Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal There is also a useful glossary towards the end of the book that provides definitions of botanical, chemical and medicinal terms used in the text. These features will make the book very easy to consult by specialists with a wide range of interests The species selected for inclusion contain some well known medicinal plants, such as Catharanthus roseus and Aloe vera, several species better-known for their fruits such as avocado, annona, guava, mango, papaya, pomegranate and tamarind, the spice turmeric, the vegetable cassava and Mamordica charantia the bitter gourd, lemon grass, the tropical weedy species Cassia alata, and some well known poisonous plants such as Abrus precatorius, Fatropha curcas and Lantana camara a useful compilation of information about some economically important species will certainly be consulted by physicians, pharmacists and herbal healers, but should also appeal to ethnobotanists, economic botanists and plant chemists. I am sure that I will be referring back to it from time to time. - New Phytologist

Product Details

• Hardcover: 415 pages
• Publisher: Humana Press; 1st edition (January 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896035425
• ISBN-13: 978-0896035423
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,809,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing, April 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Medicinal Plants of the World: Chemical Constituents, Traditional and Modern Medicinal Uses (Medicinal Plants of the World (Humana)) (Hardcover)

As someone working actively in the field of phytotherapies, I was extremely disappointed when this bbok landed on my desk by our research library - a waste of budget to say the least. The depth of each plant reviewed is on the whole well done, however, Europe as a land mass let alone a group of exciting people, does not appear to exist for this FDA author. The introductory preface clearly identifies that the author is not in tune with real global herbal medicine. Only 27 plants are reviewed, and the choice is bizzare and incoherent. Don't bother with it - there are far better books available!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, March 8, 2005

By 

Olutosin Idowu "aijimere" (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medicinal Plants of the World: Chemical Constituents, Traditional and Modern Medicinal Uses (Medicinal Plants of the World (Humana)) (Hardcover)

I have been using the two books by I.A. Ross in the library, and hopefully will buy my own copies soon. The organization of information is excellent. There is a similarly titled book by van Wyk and Michael Wink, which I bought sometime ago before I discovered the books by Ross. The book by Wyk and Wink, with its misleading title,is quite inferior to the books by Ivan Ross. My main grouse with the Wyk and Wink book was its over-representation of European plants, considering the relative small size of Europe and the small number of people there who rely on herbal medicines, compared to the hundreds of millions of people who depend on medicinal plants in Africa, Asia and South America. In any case, most of the "medicinal plants of the world" are in those continents. The second reviewer should be quite pleased with th book by Wyk and Wink, with its near-equation of "world" with Europe-North America. One distinguishing feature of these excellent books by Ross is its information on the traditional medicinal preparations of these plants. This is information you rarely come across in the so-called Encyclopedias of Herbs published to profit from what the publishers obviously treat as a fad. The choice of plants by Ivan Ross is quite consistent because they are mostly plants used by millions for whom herbal therapy is not just 'alternative therapy'. The scientific information collected in these books make these books invaluable reference books for a wide range of professionals

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting book for the scientist or layperson., August 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Medicinal Plants of the World: Chemical Constituents, Traditional and Modern Medicinal Uses (Medicinal Plants of the World (Humana)) (Hardcover)

As a layperson interested in the value of medicinal plants, I found this book very interesting. Even though it is primarily a book geared toward the scientific community, I found the traditional uses and pharmacological activities interesting enough to cause me to research these plants further. I like the fact that many of the plants discussed are common food plants and I was not aware of the medicinal values of them. I would recommend that anyone, either scientist or layperson, interested in furthering their knowledge in this area purchase this book. I would think that any scientist interested in this field would certainly want this book as an addition to their reference library.