Medicinal Plants in Australia Volume 4: An Antipodean Apothecary

The age-old knowledge enshrined in folk medicine across the world has been a remarkable resource which continues to have immense value.

This is equally true in Australia, where a fusion has developed, based on old European wisdom, of innovative discoveries regarding the native flora and local Aboriginal knowledge. A whole new era of microbial discovery has begun, with natural resources once again providing the inspiration for innovative discoveries. In particular, the need for antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal drugs is high. Microbes have been unearthed that are intimately linked with the medicinal properties of plants. This fourth volume of Medicinal Plants in Australia, written by Cheryll Williams, is the summation of her work, drawing together all the research and information in the previous volumes.

Williams shows how traditional medicine has paved the way to modern scientific breakthroughs in medicine. Contents include: Flowers of the Materia Medica * Asteraceae: Daisies of the Apothecary * Validating Bush Medicines * New Roles for Old Remedies * Earth Medicine: A Mineral Pharmacy * A Desire for Dirt? * Arid Landscapes: Medicinals and Aromatics from the Desert * Ancient Drugs in a Modern World * Pituri: A Mysterious Narcotic * Tobacco Tales * Steroids from Yams * Kangaroo Apples and Blackberry Nightshades ***

"This comprehensive reference work transcends being a mere list of medicinally beneficial plants, becoming instead a quite engrossing read. You can easily lose yourself in chapters . . . filled with details and hundreds of color illustrations. Williams delicately balances many details from ethnographic, historical, pharmaceutical, and other sources, creating a book that certainly looks beyond Australia's borders. This book should find a happy place on many a reference shelf where it will rarely gather dust."