by Michael Heinrich, Joanne Barnes, Simon Gibbons, and Elizabeth Williamson
Edinburgh, Scotland: Churchill Livingstone; 2012
eBook ISBN: 9780702052316 Paperback ISBN: 9780702033889
Authors' Affiliations and Expertise:
Michael Heinrich, Professor and Head of Centre for Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK.
Joanne Barnes, Associate Professor in Herbal Medicines, School of Pharmacy, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Simon Gibbons, Lecturer in Pharmacognosy, Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK.
Elizabeth Williamson, Professor of Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, University of Reading, UK; Editor-in-chief of Phytotherapy Research; Member of the Herbal Drugs Committees for The British Pharmacopoeia and The European Pharmacopoeia; Professor of Pharmacy and Director of Pharmacy Practice. This second edition of Fundamentals of Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy provides authoritative information on botany, chemistry, and phytotherapy, as well as information on the importance of medicinal plants used clinically worldwide. A collaboration of 4 experts working together to develop a lecture series that integrates ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology, classical botanical pharmacognosy, natural product chemistry, phytochemistry, phytotherapy, and clinical pharmacy – the textbook is a unique reference that covers the fundamentals of pharmacognosy with a therapy-oriented perspective. The book is divided into 2 major sections. The first, “Fundamentals of Pharmacognosy,” is a detailed description of the history and importance of herbal products in pharmacy and medicine. The second section, “Important Natural Products and Phytomedicines Used in Pharmacy and Medicine” explains many clinical applications of botanical products in pharmacy and medicine. As a reference, this text provides many detailed diagrams and descriptions of complex methods in natural product chemistry. The quality of the diagrams is excellent and easy to understand. The authors also explain many of the ancient traditional medicine usage of herbal medicine. For students of science and of the healthcare professions, it is a useful text and the authors are to be commended for their work. I recently ordered another copy online for $40.00 (with free shipping). That is a bargain for this excellent text. James Odell, OMD, ND, L.Ac. BRMI Executive Director