Medicinal Plants from the East

The purpose of this book is to give its readers a comprehensive and complete compendium of medicinal plants from the East which will provide them with a logical concept that will be used as a compass for the discovery of drugs. Many of the plants have not yet been studied and readers may use it as a reference material to start new research projects or to start international research collaborative programs. The geographical areas covered include East Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Pacific Islands, Hawaii and the US. Clear, precise, botanical plates for each plant are used. Details on flowers, fruits, leaves, even anthers are given. Each plate provides origin of the herbarium, location of the plant and date of collection, plus some field notes including ecological data. A very precise botanical description, based both on fresh samples and herbaria, is also given. Plants are introduced according to their subclass, family and order, with reference to the general pharmacological and chemical profiles in these botanical groups. This type of presentation gives a logical overview demonstrating that pharmacological properties depend on botanical classification. The scientific names are provided for each plant, with complete synonym and vernacular names, providing the reader with a strong, reliable and accurate set of data to identify the plant. The etymology of the scientific name of each plant is also provided. Also included is a fully searchable CD-rom which enables the reader to search for plant names, diseases, countries, or any other parameter. No other existing book covers so many disciplines of sciences and geographical distribution.