CRC Handbook of African Medicinal Plants
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Summary
Handbook of African Medicinal Plants provides a comprehensive review of over 1,000 species of plants employed in indigenous African medicine. It gives a concise description of the materia medica of an enormous and extensively varied continent, with well over 2,000 distinct tribes and several distinct floras. A detailed pharmacognostical profile of the major herbs is presented, including the common name, synonyms, African names, habitat and distribution, medicinal uses, chemical constituents, and published pharmacologic activity. This extensive catalog of plants is presented both in alphabetic order and according to family. References are cited from over 600 publications, and photographs and sketches illustrate many of the plants.
The book also provides an introduction to African cosmology and beliefs as they relate to healing and the use of herbs. Handbook of African Medicinal Plants is an invaluable, practical desk reference that should be on the bookshelf of every pharmacognosist, ethnobiologist, botanist, ecologist, phytochemist, pharmacologist, and scientist interested in tropical plant utilization as a tool for the conservation of biodiversity and as a source of new drug leads.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Catalog of African Medicinal Plants
Profile of Major Medicinal Plants
Healing and the African Culture
Traditional Medicine in Africa
Medicinal Plants and Traditional Healing Methods
Bibliography
Index of Species, Genera, and Families
General Index
Editorial Reviews
"A vast topic, medicinal plants in the wide expanse of Africa, is well covered in this work. Primarily for medical library collections, but will interest anyone concerned with ethnobotany and African culture."
C.T. Mason, Jr.
University of Arizona
as quoted in CHOICE, June 1994
