Ethnopharmacology is the scientific study of traditional medicines, which continue to provide new drugs and lead molecules for the pharmaceutical industry. The recent introduction of artemisinin as an effective antimalarial is a good example of this as the source of this compound, Artemisia annua, was used to treat fevers and malaria-like symptoms in traditional Chinese medicine. A large amount of information still awaits disclosure to the scientific community and this book is an attempt to do this for plants of Asia and the Pacific.
As might be expected for such a vast area with a large number of species, this comparatively small volume cannot be expected to cover anything except a small proportion of the interesting plants which are found in the region. Unfortunately, it does this rather inadequately, claiming to be the first book to do this and ignoring the much more scholarly works of Perry and Metzger (Medicinal Plants of South-east Asia), Burkhill (Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula) and others. It concentrates on three therapeutic categories only, i.e. anti-inflammatories, the CNS and cancer, whilst neglecting the many other diseases for which the plants are used. Even with the categories dealt with, some recent work is not mentioned.
In addition, ethnopharmacology should take into account the philosophical framework for the practice of medicine of any group, since this influences both diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The remit of this book includes China, which has a very well-developed approach in this respect, but such aspects are hardly covered.
Illustrations of plants are mainly line drawings, which are clear, but possibly not very relevant to a serious researcher looking for information leading to experimental work. The structures drawn do not appear to have been thoroughly checked, since some are completely wrong, e.g. hypericin p. 19, ibogaine p. 72, while others are not drawn conventionally and/or have names misspelt, e.g. genistein p. 210. Valerenic acid p. 90 has a pentavalent carbon!
The rather extravagant claims, together with the carelessness in drawing structures, detract from the undoubted value of this book as a source of information and make it difficult to justify its fairly high price.