'Drawing on their wealth of experience and knowledge in this field, the authors, who are without doubt among the finest minds in pharmacognosy today, provide useful and fascinating insights into the history, botany, chemistry, phytotherapy and importance of medicinal plants in some of today's health care systems. This is a landmark textbook, which carefully brings together relevant data from numerous sources and provides in an authoritative and exhaustive manner, cutting edge information that is relevant to pharmacists, pharmacognocists, complementary practitioners, doctors and nurses alike.' The Pharmaceutical Journal

'This is the first book that I have encountered which combines the compounds and plants found in standard pharmacognosy textbooks, i.e. those used in orthodox Western medicine, with the 'new phytopharmaceuticals' which have become established in Western culture over the last 20 years. The medical establishment in this environment is finally catching up with the practices of the general population and so this book is an excellent choice for those who wish to investigate which of the many plants available have some scientific credence. I shall be adding this book to the Essential Reading list for all of the undergraduate students on our pharmacy degree course and would encourage all those involved in teaching pharmacy students to do the same." P.J. Houghton, Department of Pharmacy, King's College London, Journal of Ethnopharmacology

'Educated pharmacists no doubt equate Pharmacognosy with hours spent hunched over a microscope identifying vegetable drugs. Many probably consider it as a subject with little importance in a modern pharmacy curriculum. How wrong they are! ... This book is designed to give an overview at an easy-to-understand level of a broad subject area... For students of science and of the healthcare professions it is a useful text and the authors are to be commended for their work.' Irish Pharmacy Journal