Wiart Christophe. Medicinal Plants of China, Korea, and Japan. Bioresources for Tomorrow’s Drugs and Cosmetics

Boca Raton, London, New York: Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, 2012. — 456 р. — ISBN13: 978-1-4398-9912-0.In this impressive volume, Christophe Wiart has characterized and classified medicinal plants from China, Japan, and Korea. It details some 200 medicinal plant species that have been carefully selected for their novelty and pharmacological importance. The potential of traditional Chinese medicines has been known for many thousands of years, but it is only in recent years that there has been a real drive for the globalization of this phenomenon. The real essence of the approach of traditional Chinese medicine comes from the use of complex mixtures of plant extracts that have been developed and handed down through generations. However, this complexity and variety of composition of individual traditional Chinese medicines also provide a major barrier to their acceptance and approval by regulatory agencies in the West. It is clear, however, that medicinal plants can provide an important starting point for standard drug discovery approaches where the natural occurring pharmacological agent has been identified structurally and its pharmacological actions clearly established. The major limitation in this approach is the correct identification of the medicinal plants and the characterization of the pharmacologically active molecules that they produce.Chemical Structures.
Foreword.Author.
Superorder Austrobaileyanae (Croizat) Doweld ex M.W. Chase & Reveal, 2009.
Superorder Magnolianae Takht., 1967.
Superorder Lilianae Takht., 1967.
Superorder Ranunculanae Takht. ex Reveal, 1992.
Superorder Rosanae Takht., 1967.
Superorder Saxifraganae Reveal, 1994.
Superorder Santalanae Thorne ex Reveal, 1992.
Superorder Caryophyllanae Takht., 1967.
Superorder Asteranae Takht., 1967.
Index of Common Names.
Index of Medicinal Uses.
Index of Natural Products.
Index of Pharmacological Terms.
Index of Plants.