Handbook of Medicinal Plants

Preface. I. Introduction: 1. Trends and challenges in phytomedicine: research in the new millennium/Hildebert Wagner. II. The use of medicinal plants throughout history: i. Chinese Medicinal Plants: 2. History of application of medicinal plants in China/Chang-Xiao Liu. 3. Ethnopharmacology of traditional Chinese drugs from medicinal plants/Chang-Xiao Liu. 4. Research and development of new drugs originating from Chinese medicinal plants/Chang-Xiao Liu and Zohara Yaniv. ii. Medicinal plants in the native cultures: 5. African medicinal plants/Ruth Kutalek and Armin Prinz. 6. Dilemmas and solutions: native American plant knowledge/Daniel E. Moerman. 7. Ethnobotany and ethnomedicine of the Amazonian Indians/Sir Ghillean T. Prance. 8. Healers and physicians in ancient and medieval Mediterranean cultures/Alain Touwaide. 9. Remedies from the Bush: traditional medicine among the Australian aborigines/Emanuela Appetiti. III. Technologies in medicinal plant research: 10. Production and breeding of medicinal plants/Eva Nemeth. 11. Biological screening of medicinal plants/Ming-Wei Wang. 12. Biotechnology in medicinal crop improvement/Efraim Lewinsohn and Ya’akov Tadmor. 13. In vitro cultivation of medicinal plants/Christoph Wawrosch. IV. Latest developments in medicinal applications: 14. Medicinal plants in the prevention and therapy of cancer/David Mantle and Richard M. Wilkins. 15. Phytochemicals and prevention of coronary heart disease/D. Francesco Visioli, Simona Grande and Claudio Galli. 16. A modern look at folkloric use of anti-infective agents/Lester A. Mitscher. 17. Use of medicinal plants in CNS disorders/Peter John Houghton. 18. Herbal medicine in endocrinology and metabolic disease/Graham Pinn. 19. Bioactive Saponins from plants: recent developments/Marie-Aleth Lacaille-Dubois. 20. Natural products and herbal medicines in the gastrointestinal tract/Zohar Kerem. V. Hopes and dangers: 21. Challenges and threats to interdisciplinary medicinal plant research/Michael Heinrich. Index.