Pharmaceutical Botany - A Text-Book for Students of Pharmacy and Science #219778

Medicine and botany have been inextricably linked since the dawn of humanity as we know it. The use of plants to heal, soothe and cure ailments goes back as far as recorded human history and likely a great deal longer. The roots of both mainstream modern medicine and modern herbalism are planted in the physic garden. <br><br>Heber Youngken was determined in this book to boil down to the essentials of Pharmaceutical Botany. Those gems of knowledge which would be essential to those students of pharmacy who needed to gain a good grounding of the subject matter fast. <br>Marketed towards first year college students this work will be readily useful to those with even a basic scientific grounding or an enthusiastic amateur botanist or gardener. <br><br>The first part of the book focuses primarily on the morphology of plants, particularly angiosperms, in both the gross and minute sense. Youngken is commendably thorough in explaining how a plant is composed, the exact appearance and nature of each part of the organism. He explores the purpose and ordinary method of functioning for each element of the plant as well as the deep geological history of plant life and their ecological relationships with surrounding flora and fauna. <br><br>The taxonomy of plants is explored with a particular emphasis on the medicinal uses and compounds contained within each plant and those which carry characteristics in common across an entire plant genus. In particular he gives practical information about the part of the plant used for an active ingredient in medicine. <br><br>Pharmaceutical Botany is a valuable piece of information for any budding herbalist, from a treasured part of the German herbal medical tradition.