Featuring 350 full-colour photographs, botanical drawings, and maps, this accessible, fact-filled book is based on the work of renowned botanical experts and presents alphabetically arranged, beautifully illustrated entries for hundreds of plants touted for millennia to soothe, even heal. Each is clearly described, with full details of its physical appearance and medicinal uses; its origins and geographic distribution, how it’s harvested and used in conventional and alternative medicine, a range map; and more. It’s also a fascinating medical chronicle filled with informative sidebars on everything from ancient folklore to the latest research. Readers learn how aspirin evolved from a concoction of willow bark to the familiar white pill of today, how the foxglove’s flowery beauty contributes to the potent heart drug digitalis, and how many other now common treatments have deep historical and cultural roots. It’s a journey that starts many centuries ago in remote places like the Amazon rain forest, where shamans practiced their powerful curative magic of plants, and leads to the high-tech pharmaceutical labs of today’s scientists working to discover new plant-based drugs that can be used effectively to treat diseases major and minor alike, from cancer to the common cold.
Clearly laid out and highly illustrated, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the abundant healing properties found within nature. Accompanying each plant is a colour photograph, and detailed information ranging from its modern uses to its folklore roots. This book is designed to meet the needs of both the botanist, and those with an interest in alternative health or the self-sufficiency characterised by Ray Mears. Bringing together the work of renowned botanical experts, this beautifully illustrated reference work, comprises of over 300 entries, alphabetically ordered in a clear and accesible layout. "The Desk Reference" offers a natural history of medicines that are now common to us such as aspirin, originally derived from the bark of a willow tree, and digitalis, a potent heart medicine derived from the foxglove flower. Each entry contains a beautiful photograph/illustration and range map. Descriptions of individual plants include information on its origins and geographic range, its medicinal properties, its harvesting, its folklore, its uses in conventional and alternative medicine, and much more.
Collectively the main entries and informative sidebars, take readers on a fascinating journey from the remote rain forests of the Amazon, to the high-tech labs of modern pharmaceutical companies, where chemists continue to raid nature's abundunt resources to find cures for ailments ranging from the common cold to cancer.
