The Natural History of Medicinal Plants

by Judith Sumner

A botany instructor at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard U. enlightens users of willow-derived aspirin on how plant defenses were found to be useful medicinally; and introduces the new field of zoopharmacognosy that studies how other animals use plants for healing. Includes 30 color plates, line drawings, and a glossary. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Science, Nature, Nonfiction, History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The information in this book was really well organized and extremely interesting. I learned so much about the chemistry and ecology of some of the world's most important medicinal plants, things that I would not have learned if I hadn't picked this book up from my local library on a whim. The reason I am only giving this three stars is because the information got pretty repetitive, and the sentence structure was sometimes hard to follow, but other than that it's a really interesting read, especially for someone with even just a passing interest in medicinal botany.

[David R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A workmanlike overview of plants which have yielded medicinal treasures over time. It's a bit plodding but for the student a useful read.

[RuBisCO Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a fun read and well written, slightly outdated but still very relevant.

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The part of this I read was interesting. I may pick it up again at another time.

[Arin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love learning about the history of stuff!