Customer Reviews

Tibetan Medicinal Plants

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Tibetan Medicinal Plants is a long-awaited scientific treatise on Tibetan Herbs. Until now, the availability of high-end, modern, scientific literature on Tibetan Materia Medica has been almost non-existent.

This text goes into great detail on 60 of the most commonly used and important Tibetan Herbs. Each monograph contains detailed exploration of the Botanical name(s), identification of plants specimens collected for the trade, description, occurence and distribution, as well as chemical and pharmacological findings, where available, and the use in Tibetan Medicine. Each medicine also has a number of color photographs giving both macroscopic and microscopic views.

The book also contains useful glossaries of Tibetan Medical terms, and Tibetan Foods.

One of the best things about this book is correct identification, as a number of herbs used in Tibetan Medicine are given various botanical sources according to different authors. This has caused researchers a great many headaches in the past. This book, however, discusses the various proposed species listed by different authors, and then identifies specimens gathered by collectors for the medicine trade. In a number of cases, the various herbs listed by different authors are found to be different types of the same herb. But to have this clarified in such as way is very useful and important.

Possibly the only criticism I would have is that there is relatively little information about the use of each medicine. A very brief number of uses is given with no detail about dose, combination or formulas they appear in.

Overall, an excellent book, especially for anyone studying or practicing Tibetan Medicine.

Adam Tate