The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs: A Guide to Understanding and Using Herbal Medicinals

by Leslie Taylor ND

Rainforests contain an amazing abundance of plant life―over half of the planet’s vegetation. For centuries, tribal shamans have successfully used these botanicals as remedies for various health disorders. Now, scientists have begun to uncover the medicinal qualities of these plants, which offer new approaches to health and healing. The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs is a unique guide to these herbs and their uses.

Detailing more than seventy rainforest botanicals, this book presents the history of the herbs’ uses by indigenous peoples and describes current usage by natural health practitioners throughout the world. Discover Amazon healers’ traditional knowledge, as well as the clinical studies that support what shamans have known for ages. Essential dosage and preparation methods are provided, while at-a-glance tables help you locate the best botanicals for each disorder. Here is a unique book that offers a blend of ancient and modern knowledge in an accessible reference format.

Genres: Health

528 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Halle McQueen]

This was my bible when I was in the Amazon jungle of Peru for 3-6 months every year for 8 years.
I was able to recognise all the local plants by using Leslie's descriptions and drawings. Local people could also look at the drawings and take me to the plant. Their conclusions on use of the plants were always the same as Leslie's....amazing stuff! I also used this book to heal myself when I became very ill with Leishmaniasis.
My copy is a bit battered and stained but it is very precious to me.It is truly a very valuable reference book.
I eventually wrote a book about those experiences in the jungle.

[Jan Notzon]

This is a truly valuable resource. It opened my eyes to the wonders of medicines from nature. The author is an amazing woman who cured herself of cancer using natural remedies after mainstream medicines had failed and was told she had only months to live.

She is also one incredible businesswoman, having started many successful businesses while apparently raising children on her own. The information she provides is astonishingly thorough and set out in as clear a fashion as I could imagine.

I highly recommend this book for anyone suffering from illnesses that western medicine hasn't been able to treat effectively. I also recommend it for those with any curiosity about natural medicines and tropical rainforests.

[Goldenrod]

Very clear, well organized, useful information! Love the tables: properties and actions of rainforest plants (ch 5); herbal treatment of specific diseases and disorders (ch 6); plant data summary (ch 7).

[Justin]

Some of these herbs didn't seem like they were from the rainforest or at least had been normalized into Western herbalism for some time. additionally some of the herb information didn't seem quite right

[Juliana]

Clear description of different herbs and healing uses.

[Kev]

Wish I still had this book. Donated it to the Menlo Park Library. So hard to get a hold of these days.