Main description:

Pharmacognosy, the science of nature-derived drugs, pharmaceuticals, and poisons, played a crucial role in the development of modern medicine, and now has an equally important place in healthcare all over the world. This wide scope ranges from traditional medicine systems and herbal and nutritional therapies, the preparation and use of highly standardised and clinically tested herbal medicines, to the production of potent drugs used only in a purified form. Natural sources mainly focus on plants, fungi and algae, but drug discovery of novel compounds and structures includes bacteria and even marine animals.

Fundamentals of Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy is a landmark textbook that covers this spectrum of medicinal plant use. Written by leading experts in this field, this book takes the reader through the history, identification, and quality assurance of plant-based medicines to their therapeutic properties, safety, and compatibility and interaction with prescribed drugs.

Aimed at students of all healthcare professions, including pharmacy, medicine, nursing and complementary therapies, the comprehensively updated information in this textbook is also relevant to those companies and organisations concerned with the regulation and testing of herbal medicines (phytomedicines), other natural health products, nutraceuticals and dietary supplements.

Introduces the concepts and scope of pharmacognosy
Examines the scientific evidence of plant-based medicines for a range of health conditions
Extended and updated referencing includes recent reviews, WHO and official documents (open access where available) for quick access to further scientific literature

Antimicrobial natural products: as antibiotics and antiseptics, and their potential as bacterial resistance modifiers
Anticancer natural products: scope now includes their role in chemoprevention and associated anti-inflammatory mechanisms
New chapter on pharmacovigilance for herbal medicines and related products
Quality assurance and pharmacopoeial methods extended, with many new figures and examples
Plant medicines of recent scientific interest (popularity, or notoriety) added throughout

Contents:

Potential new chapter on Antimicrobial Agents to be added

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

Index