Medicinal Plants in the South Pacific

Medicinal Plants in the South Pacific
Author:
Publisher: World Health Organization
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1998
Genre: Medicinal Plants--oceania
ISBN: 9789290611196

Describes the information available, from both traditional medical texts and recent scientific studies, for 102 medicinal plants used in the South Pacific Islands. Plants from this part of the world represent an especially diverse flora and include several species currently undergoing scientific investigation. Common traditional uses include the treatment of minor injuries, childhood ailments, and complications of pregnancy. Plants described in the book are also used as emetics and as ointments and dressings applied to surface wounds or used to treat skin problems. Addressed to ethnobotanists, phytochemists, and pharmacologists, the book aims to document traditional clinical uses and bring these to the attention of the international scientific community, while also preserving knowledge about the distinctive indigenous practices in these island communities. Full-color photographs are included to facilitate identification of plants and plant parts used for medicinal purposes. Each plant is described according to a common format, which includes information on scientific name, local names, English name, a description of the plant and its habitat and distribution, and a summary of what is known about its chemical constituents, biological activity, and traditional uses. Close to 500 references to the traditional and scientific literature are included. The book concludes with a detailed index of local names used in these islands.

Fijian Medicinal Plants

Fijian Medicinal Plants
Author: RC Cambie
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Total Pages: 559
Release: 1994-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0643102957

This comprehensive compilation presents the available reports on the medicinal use of Fijian plants in an attractive and readable form using 'everyday' terms as much as possible. The book covers the origin and dispersal of plants, literature, use of medicinal plants within traditional Fijian culture, diseases of Fiji, and medicinal chemicals from plants. Four hundred and fifty plant species are described.The entries for species are arranged by plant family, and give current botanical name, Fijian or local name, brief botanical notes, medicinal uses and chemistry. Separate indexes to plant species and Fijian names are provided, as well as a glossary of medicinal and botanical terms.This book may point the way to plants from which new and effective cures might be obtained.

Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West

Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West
Author: Michael Moore
Publisher: UNM Press
Total Pages: 551
Release: 2011-08-16
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0890135924

Michael Moore, renowned herbalist, teacher, and author of several medicinal plant books, presents a one-of-a-kind guide to over three hundred species of plants geographically ranging from Baja California to Alaska. This uniquely attractive book educates the reader to both native and introduced species within this region. With over eighty line drawings, forty-four color photographs, maps, and a glossary, this book contains clear and reliable information on identification and safe use of the plants; appearance, habitats, collecting methods, and storage; therapeutic uses, constituents, and preparations; potential toxicities and medical contraindications; and tea-making, tincturing, and salve making.

Traditional Medicine of the Marshall Islands

Traditional Medicine of the Marshall Islands
Author: Irene J. Taafaki
Publisher: [email protected]
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2006
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9789820203785

This book is an attempt to ensure that traditional knowledge is not lost and that ecosystems are protected for future generations. It describes more than 270 traditional medicinal treatments, all of which use the plants of the Marshall Islands, and provides a biogeographical, historical and anthropological context, with a particular focus on the use of traditional medicine for the treatment of women.

Polynesian Herbal Medicine

Polynesian Herbal Medicine
Author: W. Arthur Whistler
Publisher: W. Arthur Whistler
Total Pages: 262
Release: 1992
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN:

"The aim of this book is to present a picture of past and present Polynesian medicinal plants. Although several books have been published on herbal medicine in Polynesia, these are either limited in geographic scope (mostly to Hawai'i) or are unscientific in basis. Restricting the study of herbal medicine to a single Polynesian island or archipelago is a disadvantage because the early accounts of medicinal practices are so sketchy. A more comprehensive approach is rewarding because so much can be learned from the similarities among the various Polynesian cultures. A scientific approach is necessary because of the nature of the subject--medicine and plants. "To establish a comprehensive and scientific basis for this book, three types of research were conducted: (1) an extensive review of the literature on Polynesia; (2) interviews with scores of Polynesian healers in Hawai'i, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti. the Cook Islands, and Tokelau; and (3) botanical collecting work in Polynesia over a twenty-year period, involving over forty research trips to the South Pacific." --from the Preface

Anti-Fertility Plants of the Pacific

Anti-Fertility Plants of the Pacific
Author: RC Cambie
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Total Pages: 192
Release: 1997-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0643102337

There is a growing appreciation of traditional medical systems as a source of considerable knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants. Traditional medicines have the potential to offer leads to identifying potentially valuable chemicals that can be developed into new and more effective drugs, including safer contraceptives. The Pacific region is an excellent arena in which to search for such chemicals as: the area contains plant species not found elsewhere; there is every indication that many of the plants used more generally in traditional Pacific medicine may be efficacious – of 74 plants surveyed in one study 86% showed pharmacological activity; and in many Pacific traditions, knowledge of medicinal use is transmitted between generations as part of an inherited body of ethnomedical knowledge. This book documents all the available information on plants that have been used traditionally for anti-fertility and fertility purposes in the Pacific region, and indicates which of these plants hold the most promise for providing new anti-fertility agents. It also records instances in which the plant has been used outside the region.