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MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC
Drugs for the Future?
by Christophe Wiart (University of Malaya, Malaysia)
This invaluable book provides a readable, introductory text to the fascinating subject of drug discovery from the medicinal plants of Asia-Pacific. A carefully designed layout presents more than 400 medicinal plants, and includes description of compound structure, molecular properties, pharmacology and clinical uses. With its broad scope and extensive compound listings, this is a premier reference source for natural products research using a pharmacological approach. Starting from a collection of plants in the rainforests of Asia-Pacific, Wiart shows how the present state of knowledge fosters a whole new way of looking at the discovery of drugs from medicinal plants.
Wiart uses his approach to deal with a remarkable array of fundamental problems: from the phylogeny of plants, to the molecular basis of activity, limitations of phytochemistry, and the possibility of a truly fundamental theory of ethnopharmacology.
Written with exceptional clarity, and illustrated by more than 300 original pictures and 400 chemical structures, this seminal book allows scientists and non-scientists alike to participate in what promises to be a major intellectual revolution.
Contents:
- Class MAGNOLIOPSIDA Cronquist, Takhtajan & Zimmermann, 1966,
the Dicotyledons:
- Subclass MAGNOLIIDAE Takhtajan 1966
- Subclass HAMAMELIDAE Takhtajan 1966
- Subclass CARYOPHYLLIDAE Takhtajan 1966
- Subclass DILLENIIDAE Takhtajan 1966
- Subclass ROSIDAE Takhtajan 1966
- Subclass ASTERIDAE Takhtajan 1966
- Class LILIOPSIDA Cronquist, Takhtajan & Zimmermann 1966, the Monocotyledons:
- Subclass ARECIDAE Takhtajan 1966
- Subclass COMMELINIDAE Takhtajan 1966
- Subclass ZINGIBERIDAE Cronquist 1978
- Subclass LILIIDAE Takhtajan 1966
Readership: Students, academics and researchers in pharmacology, toxicology,
biotechnology, natural product research, medicinal chemistry, oncology, microbiology, alternative medicine and food sciences; pharmaceutical companies.
“Christophe Wiart has produced a magnificent book covering all pertinent aspects of the potential medicinal plants of the Asia-Pacific Region. Plants (dicots and moncots) are organized by class, subclass, order, family, genus and species. More than 315 species of plants are included in this tome. Botanical descriptions are first given for each family with a general statement of the potential pharmaceutical interest for the family, followed by discussions of the physical characteristics of each species, uses in the region and pharmaceutical interests in the species; the pharmacology, including potential toxicity, of extracts of each plant and an indication of the major pharmacologically active principles, with their structures are mentioned. Photographs and/or line drawings are included for each species ... I have never seen such a book that has been this carefully prepared, so botanists, chemists, pharmacognosists, and pharmacologists having any interest in the medicinal or potentially medicinal higher plants of the Asia-Pacific Region, will be satisfied in the book content. The book will be found useful by academic, industrial and government scientists having any interest in the potential of plants as a source of new drugs.”
Professor Norman Farnsworth
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA |
“It will be an invaluable resource for doctors, pharmacists, plant scientists, pharmaceutical companies and conservationists in the region, and to all who are interested in medicinal plants.”
Professor Nina L Etkin
University of Hawaii, USA |
“‘Medicinal plants of Asia-Pacific: Drugs for the Future?’ offers researchers a strong foundation from which to advance the field of ethnopharmacology.”
Professor Elizabeth M Williamson
University of Reading, UK |
| 756pp |
Pub. date: Jan 2006 |
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