ARTICLE IN PRESS
doi:10.1016/j.ph
Phytomedicine 16 (2009) e16
www.elsevier.de/phymed
Book Review
Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest, Charles W.
Kane. Lincoln Town Press, Tucson, Arizona (2006).
xix+307pp., US$29.95, Paperback), ISBN: 0-9771333-0-3
This book presents an interesting approach toregional herbal medicine – the utilization of locallyavailable wild plants for self-limiting and self-treatabledisorders. A do-it-yourself alternative to commerciallyavailable herbal remedies, this guide profiles 100medicinal and edible plants, native and naturalized tothe deserts of the southwestern United States.
Equal parts field guide and pharmacopoeia, this bookdoes a good job of distilling an array of specialized andtechnical concepts into the vernacular. 100 ‘‘plants’’ areprofiled, by common name (more than 200 species areactually represented), with information on how to find,identify and prepare them. Each profile also contains anoverview of that plant’s chemistry and pharmacologicalactivity, therapeutic indications and recommendeddosage forms, as well as cautions, concerns andcounterindications. Clear color photographs of eachplant are included, along with a set of magnificentbotanical illustrations. Each plant profile contains aselected bibliography, along with general bibliographicreferences in the areas of botany, human physiology andgeneral medicinal use (including therapeutics, pharma-cognosy and pharmacology). A therapeutic index,glossary of technical terms and a comprehensive indexenhance the user-friendliness of this volume.
We live in an era marked by increasing globalization,commercialization and marketing of ‘‘natural’’ medi-cines; less-than-critical product endorsements and un-certainties about the origin, authenticity and quality ofthese products remain a cause for concern. This volumeprovides the reader with a hands-on solution to both ofthese challenges, offering a nuanced approach to herbalself-medication along with an entree to the scientificliterature, and providing information to help the readersuccessfully locate, identify and sustainably harvestthese selected medicinal plants from the wild.
The book, unapologetically (and without disclaimer),promotes both the harvest and utilization of wild plant
ymed.2008.04.003
species as medicinal agents, including species which areknown to contain toxic compounds. As Paracelsusnoted, ‘‘All things are poison and nothing is without
poison, only the dose permits something not to be
poisonous’’. Inclusion of medicinal plants with knowntoxicities [such as Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)with its hepatotoxic nordihydroguaiaretic metabolites,as well as several species known to contain pyrrolizidinealkaloids] might be seen by some to be unacceptable,ill-informed, subversive, or at least to be pushingthe envelope of propriety. Inherent in this approach isthe faith that society, in general, and the reader, inparticular, will adhere to a common-sense respect fornature and take personal responsibility for identifyingpotentially toxicity and adverse drug–herb interactions.
Despite the fact that (1) the conservation status ofmany wild medicinal plants is increasingly threatened,especially for plants with specialized habitat preferencesand limited range, (2) our limited knowledge of bothdrug–herb and herb–herb interactions continue to loomlarge over the field of herbal medicine, and (3) ourhyper-litigious society has prompted the authors orpublishers of many books on herbal medicine to includedisclaimers of responsibility for the interpretation anduse of the materials they present, this positive attitudeand faith in humanity to ‘‘do the right thing’’ arerefreshing.
As a working model of a modern herbal, the value ofthis book transcends both the limits of its geographicscope and its focus on nondomestic plant species. Itshould be of interest to lay readers and scientists alike,consumers and practitioners of herbal medicine, ethno-botanists, pharmacognosists, policy-makers, regulatorsand those interested in the utilization of wild medicinalplant species.
Adjunct Assistant Professor
James GrahamDepartment of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy,
University of Illinois College of Pharmacy,
833 S Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60612-7231, USA
E-mail address: [email protected]
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