"...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
"No library can be without [it] and no specialist can do without consulting [it]."
-American Scientist
"...will certainly be consulted by physicians, pharmacists, and herbal healers..."
-New Phytologist
"...this volume belongs on the shelves of medical and botanical libraries. Large public libraries and academic libraries...may also want to consider it."
-Booklist - Reference Books Bulletin"This two-volume work (the first appearing in 1999, the second in 2001) is a veritable compendium on 50 medicinal plants of the world. Gleaned from over 4,700 literature sources, Medicinal Plants of the World will appeal to professionals in medicine, pharmacology, and herbal practice. The author, a biologist, selected species of plants based on consumer interest, available data, and level of use in developing countries. . .Compiling such a vast amount of information from an extensive pool of literature was certainly a labor of love and an abiding service for researchers. We only hope that future volumes will appear. An encyclopedic work of lasting utility, Medicinal Plants of the World is recommended for public, academic, medical, and research libraries."-E-streams Electronic Book Reviews
Review of Volume 1:*
"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
"Ivan A. Ross, a biologist who has done toxicology research for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, created quite a stir with the extensive research and painstaking documentation that characterized the first volume in this series. The second volume is no less impressive in scope or detail, and contains a number of helpful additions that improve its function as a reference tool." - Medic al Reference Services Quarterly
"This volume offers an unprecedented collection of vital scientific information for pharmacologists, herbal medicine practioners, drug developers, phyhemists, medicinal chemists, phytologists, toxicologists, and researchers who want to explore the use of little-known information about these plants and open appication horizons for the many novel drugs and drug candidates found in them." -Acta Botanica Hungarica
"...Recommended for large public libraries, as well as college and university libraries." - American Reference Books Annual
Reviewer: Eric M. Scholar, PhD(University of Nebraska Medical Center)
Description: This second volume in the series Medicinal Plants of the World contains information on 24 different plant species. For each plant the book gives the worldwide common names and a botanical description, origin and distribution of the plant, traditional medicinal uses, chemical constituents, and information on the pharmacological activities and clinical trials carried out with the various constituents of each plant.
Purpose: The purpose is to summarize information on these medicinal plant species. These are worthy objectives since there are few sources that contain all this information in one place. The book meets the author's objectives.
Audience: "According to the author, the book provides information for pharmacologists, herbal medicine practitioners, drug developers, phytochemists, medicinal chemists, phytologists, toxicologists, and researchers who want to explore the use of plant materials for medicinal and related purposes. The book is appropriate for this audience. The author is a credible authority in the subject matter. "
Features: "For each of the 24 plant species, the book describes common names used throughout the world, gives a botanical description, origin and distribution, traditional medicinal uses, chemical constituents, and pharmacological activities. It also supplies references for each of these areas. A color plate of each plant is provided in a separate section.The best thing about the book is the completeness and throughougness of the descriptions. It seems to exhaustively cover the names and uses of each plant as well as the constituents contained within them. Although the book is exhaustive in its coverage, this also could be considered a shortcoming. It gives all the chemical constituents but often does not indicate which are the most abundant or the most important. Also under pharmacological activity it usually says it is active or inactive without any indication of the amount of activity. It is also unclear as to the criteria for selecting the plants. In my opinion it would have been more useful to only discuss the most important constituents and the most important activities. This would avoid the problem of one getting lost in the details of all the information supplied. "
Assessment: I think this book is unique in its content. No other book I am aware of contains the detail that is contained within this one. It is exhaustive in its coverage of the 24 plant species. This, however, could limit its usefulness as often one wants to know just the important and most relevant information and not everything about a particular plant.
This is a systematic documentation of scientific knowledge on 27 classical medicinal plants that are of perennial importance to healthcare delivery worldwide. The editor has neatly merged diffuse knowledge from a complex field to provide an education resource pertinent to researchers, drug developers, and pharmaceutical and clinical services. In its simplicity, the book is useful to lay persons and students. Experts and researchers may find it a useful reference. The editor also intends it for clinicians, though it is not a proper pharmacopoeia or clinician's reference because of its scope (27 plants) and limited provision of available dosages, methods, efficacy, and clinical experience. The editor expertly covers relevant cultural backgrounds, global human experience, and up-to-date scientific research on the medicinal plants discussed. The compilation of chemical constituents, selected traditional usages, and experimentation data form valuable literature with the cross reference of common names and the biography can be a uniting factor for researchers. This book is well prepared and well produced. In terms of approach, it is an advancement on some formerly popular books such as Lewis and Elvin-Lewis' Medical Botany: Plants Affecting Man's Health (John Wiley & Sons, 1982), because of it foundation on scientific evidence as well as traditional anecdotes. Its merge of global experience makes it more useful to researchers than books limited to particular cultures such as Burkill's, Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa: Families A-D (University Press of Virginia, 1985); Adjanohoun's Traditional Medicine andPharmacopoeia (OAU/STRC, 1991); and Sofowora's Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa (Spectrum, 1993). This is an interesting introduction to the intriguing field of ethnopharmacology and traditional medicine.
This expansive volume contains information on two dozen plant species (from or onion, to or chaste tree); 225 references (per the author's count); and furnishes what was lacking in v.1: plants' chemical constituents and an index. Besides chemical constituents, chapters include a plant's common name(s) by country, botanical description, origin and distribution, traditional medicinal uses by country, pharmacological activities and clinical trials, and references. Includes b&w thumbnail photos of featured plants in the table of contents; color plates; a list of plants cross-referenced by common name, country of origin, and Latin binomial; and a glossary of terms. Ross (Ph.D.) is with the US Food and Drug Administration in Laurel, Maryland. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
