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Clinical Assistant Professor School of Pharmacy West Virginia University Morgantown, West Virginia
| By Ivan A Ross PhD. Published by Humana Press Inc., Totowa,
NJ, 2003. ISBN 1-58829-281-9. Clothbound, xv + 491 pp. (26 x 18 cm),
$99.50.
www.humanapress.com
|
Published Online, December 5, 2003. www.theannals.com, DOI 10.1345/aph.1D192
Written for an audience of research scientists, phytochemists, toxicologists, physicians, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers, the author states that he had several objectives for writing this book. These include allowing the intended audience to (1) "integrate traditional and modern pharmacopoeias in order to develop a more efficient medicine," (2) "build confidence and self-reliance in the use of medicinal plants," (3) "revive an awareness of the importance of plants as sources of medicine," and (4) "encourage their utilization and conservation."
Volume I contains 27 monographs; its companion volume contains 24. The first volume describes plants such as Aloe vera, Carica papaya, Hibiscus sabdariffa, and Psidium guajava, to name a few. Each monograph is organized into 7 sections and is formatted in the following manner to maintain consistency throughout the reference: common names, botanical description, origin and distribution, traditional medicinal uses, chemical constituents, pharmacologic activities and clinical trials, and references.
The author realizes that plants have different names according to the country in which they are located. In the common names section of each monograph, the country is listed in which the name is used. For example, Abrus precatorius L. may be referred to as Guinea pea in India, while it is known as Crab's eye in the US. The author has also attempted to familiarize the reader with the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature system by using the code's Latin binomial for each plant. The colored pictures, located on a color plate in the center of the book, are useful because they assist the reader in identifying the herb regardless of the reader's location or knowledge base. However, it is somewhat cumbersome to flip from the monograph to the color plate when reading the monograph.
An introductory chapter written for the non-botanist provides nomenclature and descriptive terminology, botanical description, and origin and distribution of each plant. The book also contains a glossary and an index that is referenced not only by plant name, but by therapeutic use as well. Information for the book was gathered mainly from primary literature resources. It is obvious that each monograph is well researched and referenced.
Medicinal Plants of the World compares favorably with other publications in its field in terms of quantity and quality of the information and cost. However, a drawback is that the book is bound and cannot be updated. It has been 5 years since the last edition was published and, as the author noted, the amount of scientific information available on each plant has doubled.
For the most part, the monographs are easy to read, with the exception of the pharmacologic and clinical trials section. For each plant, the vast number of potential therapeutic uses becomes overwhelming. Due to the abundance of animal data cited in each monograph for each therapeutic use, it becomes difficult to extrapolate the information to humans. The author states that the book was written at a level assuming the reader "has had no experience or knowledge of medicinal plants." With this premise in mind, Ross has attempted to include so much information that it often becomes difficult to digest.
Ross should be applauded for his efforts to create a comprehensive book on medicinal plants. Although the book may not be well suited for busy healthcare professionals, it is highly recommended for research scientists in the fields of biology, botany, medicine, or pharmaceutics and governmental regulators of herbal products.
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