WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants, Vol. 1

Plants have been used for medicinal purposes for many centuries. Today, herbal products are being employed worldwide in a variety of health care settings and as home remedies. In some developing countries, communities rely heavily on traditional practitioners and medicinal plants to meet primary health care needs, and in industrialized countries plant products are gaining popularity as alternative and complementary therapies. Growing interest has prompted greater study of the properties and uses of medicinal plant materials and raised concerns about their quality, safety and efficacy. Scientifically sound data are lacking for many plant materials, extracts and active ingredients, and in most countries the herbal medicines market is poorly regulated and products may be neither registered nor controlled. This book contains 28 monographs on widely used medicinal plants, selected for inclusion on the basis of scientific evidence for both safety and efficacy. Each monograph contains two parts, the first of which provides Pharmacopoeial summaries for quality assurance purposes, including botanical features, identity tests, purity requirements, chemical assays and major chemical constituents. The second part, drawing on an extensive review of scientific research, describes the clinical applications of the plant material, with detailed pharmacological information and sections on contraindications, adverse effects and dosage. The monographs are intended to promote international harmonization in the quality control and use of herbal medicines and to serve as models for the development of national formularies. They will be a comprehensive scientific reference for drug regulatory authorities, physicians, traditional practitioners, pharmacists, manufacturers and research scientists.