From Booklist
The hidden chemistry of flora is revealed in this accessible introduction to the world of medicinal plants. Harvard botanist Sumner begins with an in-depth look at the folklore of herbalists in Europe preserved since the middle ages, and then discusses the discoveries of plant compounds such as alkaloids, which have been used for everything from easing people's pain (morphine) to driving them mad (ergotamine). Why plants produce these myriad compounds is still somewhat of a mystery, but Sumner explores such possibilities as defense strategies and chemical evolution. Some of her most interesting revelations are about the relationships that animals have with plants: their pharmacopoeia is much more advanced than we give them credit for. Sumner also provides a fair amount of information on what are now considered the most effective herbs for self-medication, and reminds readers that preserving biodiversity for the potential discoveries of yet more medicinal plants is a noble cause, even if it has a commercial bent to it, because plants literally contain the germ of continued life on this planet. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


From Book News, Inc.
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.Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR


Harvard Medical School Quarterly Review
"One of the best histories available on the use of plants in medicine."


Hawaiian Horticulture, Volume 3, Number 11, November 2000
"This is an easy to read book that will appeal to almost anyone interested in plants as medicine."


HomeGrown, November/December 2000
"If you are interested in medicinal plants, this will be a fascinating addition to your library."


Biology Digest, December 2000
"...The Natural History of Medicinal Plants will inspire a greater appreciation of the vast natural pharmacy of plant medicines."


Book Description
Wild and cultivated plants have provided humans with cures for thousands of years. Aspirin, for example, the most widely used drug in the Western pharmacopoeia, was first isolated from willows to treat fever, pain, and inflammation. Today it is synthesized in the laboratory, and its use as an anticoagulant eventually could overshadow its use as an analgesic. Other botanical medicines that became significant to human health and well-being are pain-relievers from opium and coca, muscle relaxants from curare, blood anticoagulants from sweet clover, anticancer alkaloids from Madagascar periwinkle and Pacific yew, tranquilizers from snakeroot, and oral contraceptives from molecular precursors in tropical yams. Although we may be tempted to think of these and other plant chemicals existing primarily for our medicinal use, in reality they are defense strategies in a natural world colonized by organisms competing for survival. In this fascinating introduction to the botanical compounds used medicinally, Dr. Sumner describes their biological and ecological importance as toxins and deterrents in protecting plants. Some of these chemicals discourage predators by rendering plant leaves unpalatable, while others disrupt the usual developmental and reproductive stages of their attackers. Still others are well known for their potent psychotropic effects that can dangerously alter the awareness and reflexes of plant-eating animals. An exciting chapter on the new field of zoopharmacognosy provides some interesting examples of birds, primates, and elephants that seemingly recognize and use plants as medicines. The author concludes with a thought-provoking analysis of the issues behind using medi! cinal plants to improve human needs without destroying the earth’s biodiversity. Written for the lay reader, The Natural History of Medicinal Plants will inspire a greater appreciation of the vast natural pharmacy of plant medicines. Numerous black and white illustrations and 30 color plates accompany the text.


From the Publisher
Although we may be tempted to think of these and other plant chemicals existing primarily for our medicinal use, in reality they are defense strategies in a natural world colonized by organisms competing for survival. In this fascinating introduction to the botanical compounds used medicinally, Dr. Sumner describes their biological and ecological importance as toxins and deterrents in protecting plants. An exciting chapter on the new field of zoopharmacognosy provides some interesting examples of birds, primates, and elephants that seemingly recognize and use plants as medicines. The author concludes with a thought-provoking analysis of the issues behind using medicinal plants to improve human needs without destroying the earth’s biodiversity.


From the Author
The following is an excerpt from an interview with Judith Sumner, author of The Natural History of Medicinal Plants: Timber Press: What is your favorite story about the discovery of the medicinal uses of plants? Judith Sumner: Ethnobotanists describe South American healers who can recognize subtle differences among various medicinal plant species and varieties that Western botanists cannot discern. Medicinal botanists and physicians should takes their cues from that sort of humbling experience. Even with our knowledge of medicine, morphology, anatomy, botanical nomenclature, and systematics, there are many lessons that we can learn from people who have coexisted with medicinal plants in their natural habitats. TP: What are your recommendations for people who self-medicate with medicinal plants? JS: Always remember that secondary plant compounds evolved as toxins and deterrents to promote plant survival, not as safe "natural cures" for human ailments! Often the line between effective and toxic doses is very close, so I would be concerned with knowing exactly how much of specific compounds and specific plants are in herbal preparations. Under some circumstances, herbal preparations should be definitely avoided; for instance, people with any sort of auto-immune disorder should avoid Echinacea, which may enhance immune system activity and worsen their condition.


About the Author
Dr. Judith Sumner teaches medicinal botany at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and at the Garden in the Woods, the botanic garden of the New England Wild Flower Society in Framingham, Massachusetts. Her lectures are highly sought after by inquisitive students of all ages, and she has been honored with various awards for excellence in teaching. Judith has written monographs on the family Pittosporaceae, and has contributed to Horticulture magazine and Flora Vitiensis Nova, a systematic review of flowering plants in the Fiji Islands. When interviewed by the Boston Globe as an authority on plant chemicals she said, “Plants may seem inanimate, but they’re not at all. They don’t pounce and claw at you, but they can get you.” Such plant defenses are one of Judith’s main interests. The goal to present the ecological role of the botanical compounds in medicinal plants, combined with a desire to encourage the preservation of such plants, inspired her recent book, The Natural History of Medicinal Plants. She hopes to make readers more aware of the significance of valuable plants in their native habitats. Currently, Judith is working on a book on the history of flowering plants. She lives in Worcester, Massachusetts, and enjoys gardening, camping and hiking.


Excerpted from The Natural History of Medicinal Plants by Judith Sumner, Mark J. Plotkin. Copyright © 2000. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
Chimpanzees spend most of their waking hours searching for sustenance, and their diet consists of a varied mix of leaves, fruit, insects, and even meat. As a rule, food is chewed carefully and not swallowed intact, but a different eating strategy was described more than twenty years ago by Richard Wrangham, a Harvard anthropologist working in the Gombe National Park of Tanzania. He observed chimpanzees selecting the leaves of Aspilia species, folding and rubbing them against the inside of their mouths for a few seconds, and then gulping them intact. Often the leaves were gathered and swallowed early in the morning, possibly by animals afflicted with illness or parasites. This behavior is quite different from the usual pattern of leaf-eating, in which a handful of leaves is swallowed after being thoroughly chewed. The unchewed Aspilia leaves are often excreted intact in the chimpanzees' feces. Aspilia mossambicensis (Plate 10) is a shrub in the daisy family (Compositae) with large leaves covered in dense hairs; it was assumed that secondary compounds produced by Aspilia had medicinal effects in the chimpanzees. Indeed, early reports from the lab of Eloy Rodriguez of Cornell University suggested that Aspilia leaves produce a red oil known as thiarubrine-A, which kills viruses, fungi, and parasitic worms, but this work has not been confirmed by other investigators. Chemistry aside, an alternative explanation for the swallowing of the intact Aspilia leaves is that their densely hairy surface may physically dislodge parasitic worms from the chimpanzees' intestines as ingested material moves through during digestion. The chimpanzees at Gombe swallow more Aspilia leaves during the rainy season, when there are more parasite larvae in their habitat and the likelihood of infection increases; they may consume between fifteen and thirty-five leaves at a sitting. African people! in the same area use Aspilia to treat infections, malaria, and scurvy, as well as conditions such as sciatica and lumbago. The feeding behavior of a chimpanzee is learned as the young animal associates with its mother and other elders. A young chimpanzee closely mimics the selection and preparation of foods, such as the removal of leaves and peeling away of bark to reveal the edible pith of a twig. Adult chimpanzees do not teach each other or urge peers to consume medicinal plants, but behavior such as leaf-swallowing and pith-eating could be acquired in youth. Possibly a few mature individuals experiment with plants that are not normally part of the chimpanzee diet, benefit from their medicinal effect, and pass this behavior along to their offspring and other younger members of their social group.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Wild and cultivated plants have provided humans with cures for thousands of years. Aspirin, for example, the most widely used drug in the Western pharmacopoeia, was first isolated from willows to treat fever, pain, and inflammation. Today it is synthesized in the laboratory, and its use as an anticoagulant eventually could overshadow its use as an analgesic. Other botanical medicines that became significant to human health and well-being are pain-relievers from opium and coca, muscle relaxants from curare, blood anticoagulants from sweet clover, anticancer alkaloids from Madagascar periwinkle and Pacific yew, tranquilizers from snakeroot, and oral contraceptives from molecular precursors in tropical yams.

Although we may be tempted to think of these and other plant chemicals existing primarily for our medicinal use, in reality they are defense strategies in a natural world colonized by organisms competing for survival. In this fascinating introduction to the botanical compounds used medicinally, Dr. Sumner describes their biological and ecological importance as toxins and deterrents in protecting plants. Some of these chemicals discourage predators by rendering plant leaves unpalatable, while others disrupt the usual developmental and reproductive stages of their attackers. Still others are well known for their potent psychotropic effects that can dangerously alter the awareness and reflexes of plant-eating animals. An exciting chapter on the new field of zoopharmacognosy provides some interesting examples of birds, primates, and elephants that seemingly recognize and use plants as medicines. The author concludes with a thought-provoking analysis of the issues behind using medicinal plants to improve human needs without destroying the earth's biodiversity.

Written for the lay reader, The Natural History of Medicinal Plants will inspire a greater appreciation of the vast natural pharmacy of plant medicines. Numerous black and white illustrations and 30 color plates accompany the text.

FROM THE CRITICS

Booknews

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)

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