The present book titled "A Comprehensive Field Guide to Medicinal Plant Biodiversity of Myanmar and Mauritius" is based on the preliminary survey of medicinal plants of Myanmar and Mauritius under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme of Govt. of India. The present study and survey tours reveal the identification of more than six hundred medicinal plants found in the forest areas, nearby population areas and also in the botanical gardens. In addition to the compilation of the plants species, the information about their medicinal values and other important uses has also been obtained from locals. The information gathered during the survey included Ayurvedic plants found in these areas, possibility of propagation of the plants in the gardens, indigenous remedies and the traditional claims, guidelines for pharmaceutical assessment, product information for drug standardization, classification and preparation of drugs, manufacturing of drugs in Pharmacies and Drugs and Cosmetics Act, etc. The present text book is divided into five chapters, in which the first chapter is based on the background of Myanmar including its people, tradition, agriculture, and other useful information. The second chapter covered general information about Mauritius Island with major emphasis on the traditional medicinal system of the country and its trade. The details of about 500 plants are given in chapters 3-5. Chapter 3 covers medicinal plants found in Myanmar but not in Mauritius whereas Chapter 4 is comprised of the medicinal plants of Mauritius, which are not found in Myanmar. All the common plants, which are often found in both the countries, have been described in Chapter 5. The vernacular name, taxonomy, occurrence, phytochemistry, traditional and biological importance of each plant is described in a concise way. In addition, photographs of selected plants are also given in a separate section. This text book can be used as a field guide during the survey of medicinal plants. We hope that this information in the form of a book will certainly be beneficial to readers, especially to students of plant science and other relevant subjects.

Updated by popular demand, this is the fourth edition of this important bibliography. It lists a wide selection of works on or about Myanmar published in English and in hard copy since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, which marked the beginning of a new era in Myanmar’s modern history. There are now 2,727 titles listed. They have been written, edited, translated or compiled by over 2,000 people, from many different backgrounds. These works have been organized into thirty-five subject chapters containing ninety-five discrete sections. There are also four appendices, including a comprehensive reading guide for those unfamiliar with Myanmar or who may be seeking guidance on particular topics. This book is an invaluable aid to officials, scholars, journalists, armchair travellers and others with an interest in this fascinating but deeply troubled country.

This book highlights the results from over a year of ethnobotanical research in a rural and an urban community in Jamaica, where we interviewed more than 100 people who use medicinal plants for healthcare. The goal of this research was to better understand patterns of medicinal plant knowledge, and to find out which plants are used in consensus by local people for a variety of illnesses. For this book, we selected 25 popular medicinal plant species mentioned during fieldwork. Through individual interviews, we were able to rank plants according to their frequency of mention, and categorized the medicinal uses for each species as “major” (mentioned by more than 20% of people in a community) or “minor” (mentioned by more than 5%, but less than 20% of people). Botanical identification of plant specimens collected in the wild allowed for cross-linking of common and scientific plant names. To supplement field research, we undertook a comprehensive search and review of the ethnobotanical and biomedical literature. Our book summarizes all this information in detail under specific sub-headings.

A comprehensive field guide that uses an innovative Sound Index to allow readers to quickly identify unfamiliar songs and calls of birds in western North America. Bird songs and calls are at least as important as visual field marks in identifying birds. Yet short of memorizing each bird's repertoire, it's difficult to sort through them all. Now, with the western edition of this groundbreaking book, it's possible to visually distinguish bird sounds and identify birds using a field-guide format. At the core of this guide is the spectrogram, a visual graph of sound. With a brief introduction to five key aspects--speed, repetition, pauses, pitch pattern, and tone quality--readers can translate what they hear into visual recognition, without any musical training or auditory memorization. The Sound Index groups similar songs together, narrowing the identification choices quickly to a brief list of birds that are likely to be confused because of the similarity of their songs. Readers can then turn to the species account for more information and/or listen to the accompanying audio tracks available online. Identifying birds by sound is arguably the most challenging and important skill in birding. This book makes it vastly easier to master than ever before.