The Plants Of China

A unique addition to the botanical literature, this book presents the flora of China in its astonishing diversity.

The food plants of an area provide the material basis for the survival of its population, and furnish inspiring stimuli for cultural development. There are two parts in this book. Part 1 introduces the cultural aspects of Chinese food plants and the spread of Chinese culinary culture to the world. It also describes how the botanical and cultural information was acquired; what plants have been selected by the Chinese people for food; how these foodstuffs are produced, preserved, and prepared; and what the western societies can learn from Chinese practices. Part 2 provides the botanical identification of the plant kingdom for the esculents used in China as food and/or as beverage. The plants are illustrated with line drawings or composite photographic plates. This book is useful not only as a text for general reading, but also as a work reference. Naturally, it would be a useful addition to the general collection of any library.

It is hard to imagine gardens without peonies, flowering peaches, camellias, gardenias, azaleas, wisteria, forsythia, crabapples, and the host of other ornamentals that were introduced first in Chinese gardens. The Chinese plants with the greatest impact on the gardens of the world have actually come from Chinese gardens and nurseries.

"Atlas of Woody Plants in China: Distribution and Climate” documents the spatially-explicit county-level distribution of all 11,405 woody plants in China, together with life form information for most species. It also provides climate information for each species, with the county-level average and range of 12 climatic indices and of vegetation net primary productivity. It is the first and largest comprehensive atlas in the world for the distribution of China’s plants and was compiled on the basis of almost all related literature published throughout China. The atlas should serve as an indispensable handbook for all those who are interested in the plants, ecology, geography, environment, horticulture, and silviculture of China and East Asia. Dr. Jingyun Fang is a Cheung Kong Professor at the Department of Ecology, Peking University, China. Dr. Zhiheng Wang and Dr. Zhiyao Tang are both ecologists working at the same institute.

Focussing on the lives of four great French missionary botanists as well as a group of other French priests, Franciscan missionaries, and a single German Protestant pastor who all amassed significant plant collections, the author unearths a lost chapter of botanical history.

Asian medicinal plants show great promise in pharmaceutical and cosmetological development. Researchers engaged in the discovery of new leads in these areas need robust conceptual tools and understanding of interrelated basics of botany, ethnobotany, biomolecular pharmacology, phytochemistry, and medicinal chemistry to guide their investigations. Medicinal Plants of China, Korea, and Japan: Bioresources for Tomorrow’s Drugs and Cosmetics explores the fundamental science and demonstrates the compelling potential of these versatile plants, providing an essential resource to stimulate and guide focused inquiry. It is essential that researchers appreciate the chemotaxonomical statuses of these plants, so chapters are arranged according to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system of plant taxonomy. The book discusses the history, synonymy, habitat, description, traditional uses, and pharmacochemistry of each plant. Detailed photographs and hand-made botanical plates enable quick and reliable identification of each plant species. Critical analyses of peer-reviewed articles provide the basis for Bioresource sections in each chapter wherein readers are advised, engaged, and guided towards exciting pharmaceutical and cosmetological research proposals. Also included are indexes of botanical terms, pharmacological terms, natural products, and local names. Detailing 200 medicinal plant species carefully selected for their novelty and pharmacological and cosmetological importance, this volume provides a firm starting point for anyone looking forward to unlocking the potential of Asian medicinal plants. In addition, this invaluable book identifies numerous patentable leads.

Catalogues the 150 species of medicinal plants most commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. The book, which was compiled in collaboration with the Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, was produced in an effort to communicate knowledge about herbal medicine that has accumulated over thousands of years, has been confirmed through both empirical experience and scientific evaluation, and yet has rarely been published outside the Chinese literature. The book also responds to increasing respect for the value of medicinal plants as a source of efficacious and inexpensive new drugs that offer an important alternative to chemically synthesized medicines. Each plant species is first documented by a full colour photograph taken under natural conditions during the flowering or fruiting season. Where relevant, a second photograph illustrates the plant parts from which the crude drug is extracted. Explanatory notes for each species cover botanical name and synonyms, Chinese name, English name, parts used, description of the plant, its habitat, and geographical distribution, and clinical indications and dosage. Some of the syndromes and clinical signs are described in traditional Chinese medical terminology. Information on indications and dosage is in keeping with theories for the prescription of medicinal plants taken from traditional Chinese pharmacology. To facilitate retrieval of information, plant species are indexed according to botanical names, English names, names in Chinese phonetic alphabet, and Chinese (Han) characters. The book, which was compiled for reference and educational purposes, includes a note advising readers of the dangers of self-treatment.

Traditional Chinese medicine has been used for thousands of years by a large population. It is currently still serving many of the health needs of the Chinese people; and still enjoying their confi dence it is practised in China in parallel with modern Western medical treatment. In addition to scientific organisations dedi cated to modern Western medicine, e. g. the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and various medical schools, a series of parallel institutions have been established in China to promote traditional Chinese medicine, such as the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and training institutions. Almost all hospitals in China have a department of traditional medicine. Furthermore, a large number of scientific journals are dedicated to traditional Chinese medicine, covering both experimental and clinical investigations. Medicinal materials constitute a key topic in the treatment of disease according to traditional Chinese medicine. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia (1985 edition) is therefore divided into two sepa rate volumes, Volume I containing traditional Chinese medicinal materials and preparations and Volume II containing pharmaceu tics of Western medicine. The oldest Chinese review of medicinal materials, Shennong Bencao Jing (100-200 A. D. ), covered 365 herbal drugs. The clas sic compilation in this field, Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica), was published in 1578 by Li Shi-zhen and recorded as many as 1898 crude drugs of plant, animal and min eral origin.