Modern Medicines from Plants: Botanical histories of some of modern medicine’s most important drugs

Description

The full colour, beautifully illustrated Modern Medicines from Plants: Botanical histories of some of modern medicine’s most important drugs features information on plants from which we obtain modern prescription medicines. It outlines their historical uses as herbal medicines in the past two millennia, using primary sources, and describes how extracts from them, and their semisynthetic and synthetic derivatives, were developed to be today’s therapeutic drugs and diagnostic chemicals. This book describes medicinal plants and their habitats, the diseases that their medicines treat, and the science of how they work. This amazing and unique book is a wonderful read for those with an interest in both herbal and prescription medicines. Written with authority by physicians and gardeners at the Garden of Medicinal Plants at the Royal College of Physicians, London, chapters detail the history and modern scientific research on plants and their medicines. It is very useful to physicians, pharmacists, herbalists, historians and gardeners, bringing together information from every discipline to make it a work of interest as well as reference. Features · Written for people interested in medicinal plants, where medicines come from, and how they treat our diseases. · Contains information on 50 plants, mostly growing in the medicinal garden of the Royal College of Physicians in London, describing how they became the source of modern pharmaceutical medicines. · Describes medicinal uses of plants in Classical Greece as written by Dioscorides, Pliny and Galen, through the flowering of Arabic medicine by physicians such as Paulus Aegineta, Mesue and Avicenna to the 12th to 14th century compilations of Serapion and Sylvaticus and the European Renaissance of Peter Treveris, William Turner, Leonard Fuchs, Pietro Mattioli, John Gerarde, John Parkinson, Nicholas Culpeper, and many others to the pharmacopoeias of the 16th century to the present day. · Fully referenced including a glossary for explanation of technical terms. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface Introduction Chapter 1 Ammi majus – ammi, false Queen Anne’s lace, bullwort, bishop’s weed, herb William – methoxsalen (8-methoxypsoralen) Chapter 2 Artemisia annua – sweet wormwood, annual wormwood, Qing-Hao – artemisinin and derivatives Chapter 3 Atropa belladonna – deadly nightshade; Datura stramonium – Jimson weed; and Mandragora, Hyoscyamus, Brugmansia, Scopolia – atropine and hyoscine Chapter 4 Betula pendula – silver birch – ß-sitosterol Chapter 5 Camellia sinensis – tea; Coffea arabica – coffee; Theobroma cacao – chocolate – caffeine, theophylline Chapter 6 Camptotheca acuminata – camptotheca – camptothecin, topotecan and irinotecan Chapter 7 Capsicum annuum – chilli pepper – capsaicin Chapter 8 Catharanthus roseus – Madagascar periwinkle, Cayenne jasmine, old maid, rosy periwinkle – vincristine, vinblastine Chapter 9 Cephalotaxus harringtonia – Chinese plum yew – harringtonine Chapter 10 Chondrodendron tomentosum – curare vine – tubocurarine Chapter 11 Cinchona species – quinine tree, Jesuit’s bark, Peruvian bark – quinine, quinidine Chapter 12 Citrus x limon – lemon – vitamin C Chapter 13 Colchicum autumnale – meadow saffron, autumn crocus, naked ladies – colchicine Chapter 14 Digitalis purpurea – purple foxglove – digitoxin; Digitalis lanata – woolly foxglove – digoxin Chapter 15 Dioscorea polystachya – yam; Glycine max – soybean – steroids Chapter 16 Ephedra sinica – joint pine, Mormon tea – ephedrine, ecstasy Chapter 17 Erythroxylum coca – coca bush – cocaine Chapter 18 Euphorbia peplus – common spurge – ingenol mebutate Chapter 19 Galanthus nivalis – snowdrop – galantamine Chapter 20 Galega officinalis – goat’s rue – phenformin, metformin Chapter 21 Glycyrrhiza glabra – liquorice – carbenoxolone, glycyrrhizic acid Chapter 22 Guaiacum officinale – roughbark lignum-vitae, guaiacwood – alpha-guaiaconic acid Chapter 23 Hordeum jubatum – foxtail barley; Arundo donax – giant reed – lignocaine (lidocaine) and derivatives Chapter 24 Hordeum vulgare, Claviceps purpurea – common barley, ergot – ergometrine, ergotamine Chapter 25 Hydrangea febrifuga – Asian hydrangea, Chinese quinine – febrifugine, methaqualone, halofuginone Chapter 26 Illicium verum – Chinese star anise; I. anisatum – Japanese star anise – oseltamivir Chapter 27 Inula helenium – elecampane, enula, horseheal, scabwort, wild sunflower – inulin Chapter 28 Melilotus officinalis – melilot, yellow sweet clover, king’s clover, yellow melilot – warfarin Chapter 29 Morus alba – white mulberry – miglustat, migalastat, miglitol Chapter 30 Nicotiana tabacum – tobacco – nicotine, with a note on Lobelia – lobeline, and Laburnum anagyroides – cytisine Chapter 31 Papaver rhoeas – corn or Flanders poppy – rhoeadine, thebaine, oxycodone, etorphine and other derivatives Chapter 32 Papaver somniferum – opium poppy – morphine, codeine, noscapine, protopine Chapter 33 Physostigma venenosum – Calabar bean – physostigmine Chapter 34 Pilocarpus microphyllus – jaborandi – pilocarpine Chapter 35 Podophyllum peltatum – mayapple, American mandrake, ground lemon; Podophyllum hexandrum – Himalayan mayapple – podophyllotoxin, etoposide, teniposide Chapter 36 Rauvolfia serpentina – snake root – reserpine Chapter 37 Salix alba – willow; Filipendula ulmaria – meadowsweet; Gaultheria procumbens – wintergreen – aspirin, salicylic acid, methyl salicylate Chapter 38 Silybum marianum – milk thistle – silymarin, Legalon-SIL Chapter 39 Tanacetum cinerariifolium – pyrethrum, Dalmatian chrysanthemum – pyrethrins Chapter 40 Taxus baccata – European yew; Taxus brevifolia – Pacific yew – paclitaxel and derivatives Chapter 41 Valeriana officinalis – valerian – sodium valproate Chapter 42 Veratrum album, V. nigrum – false hellebores – protoveratrine – V. californicum – cyclopamine, sonidegib Chapter 43 Visnaga daucoides – khella – nifedipine, amiodarone, sodium cromoglicate, nedocromil sodium Chapter 44 Excipients and Solvents Chapter 45 Vitamins Appendices Appendix 1 Historical references before 1700 and Linnaeus Appendix 2 Dramatis personae. The main historical personages Appendix 3 Glossary Index Chemicals and Drugs Index Plant Names The Authors