Table of Contents

Foreword by A. Douglas Kinghorn

Preface

PART A FUNDAMENTALS OF PHARMACOGNOSY

SECTION 1 Phytotherapy and pharmacognosy

1. Importance of plants in modern pharmacy and medicine

2. Pharmacognosy and its history: people, plants and natural products

SECTION 2 Basic plant biology

3. General principles of botany: morphology and systematics

4. Families yielding important phytopharmaceuticals

5. Ethnobotany and ethnopharmacy

SECTION 3 Natural product chemistry

6. Natural product chemistry

7. Methods in natural product chemistry

8. Anticancer natural products

SECTION 4 Plant extract derived pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals

9. Production, standardization and quality control

10. Toxicity of herbal constituents

11. What makes phytomedicines unique?

SECTION 5 Medicinal plants in selected healthcare systems

12. Traditional systems of herbal medicine

13. Complementary/alternative medicine

PART B IMPORTANT NATURAL PRODUCTS AND PHYTOMEDICINES USED IN PHARMACY AND MEDICINE

14. The gastrointestinal and biliary system

15. The cardiovascular system

16. The respiratory system

17. The central nervous system

18. Infectious diseases

19. The endocrine system

20. The reproductive and urinary tracts

21. The musculoskeletal system

22. The skin

23. The eye

24. Ear, nose and orthopharynx

25. Miscellaneous supportive and protective therapies for stress, ageing, cancer and debility

Epilogue - a personal view by J. David Phillipson

Index

About the Author

By Michael Heinrich, Dr rer nat habil MA(WSU) Dipl. Biol. FLS, Professor of Ethnopharmacology and Pharmacognosy and Head of Centre for Pharma & Bio Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK Elizabeth M. Williamson, BSc(Pharm) PhD MRPharmS FLS, Emerita Professor of Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, University of Reading, UK; former Editor-in-chief - now a Senior Editor of Phytotherapy Research; Member of the Herbal Drugs Committees for The British Pharmacopoeia

Reviews

"I consider this book excellent value for money. Although primarily intended for pharmacy students, this is the best text in English for those studying to be nursing practitioners because of its scientific approach to complementary medicine, particularly therapies that use plant material for example herbalism, aromatherapy and homeopathy. Much of the material will be also of interest to the intelligent layperson as well as to those at postgraduate level who wish to gain background knowledge in this fascinating area of research and practice." Nursing Times, September 2012