Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas: New Century Traditional Chinese Medicine presents specific knowledge about the source, medicinal nature, action and application of more than 800 commonly-used Chinese materia medica, as well as the efficacy and application of more than 740 kinds of commonly-used Chinese medical formulas. Notably, all of the content is presented in table form, making the information easier to access, understand and apply. Each primary herbal medicine is introduced with color pictures, and each primary formula is presented with efficacy analysis pictures. The book provides readers with essential information on Chinese materia medica and formulas and how to use them accurately, including the most common Chinese materia medica used in clinics and in commonly used clinical formulas. This is an essential reference for traditional medical professionals and those interested in traditional Chinese medicine, including advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students. - Includes over 800 Chinese materia medica and 740 medical formulas with their essential information - Combines 514 color pictures of medicine material crude slices and 255 formulary efficacy analysis pictures - Organized with concise forms, facilitating understanding and memorization

Phytotherapy or herbal medicine is the most important therapy within Chinese medicine and is being used increasingly in the West. A Materia Medica for Chinese Medicine: plants, minerals and animal products describes 400 of the most important plants, minerals and animal substances used as treatments by Chinese medical practitioners. The items included have been selected according to their degree of clinical relevance. Each remedy is clearly described and illustrated on two facing pages, making this an easily accessible reference for both students and practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine. The clearly laid out text presents the following details for each herb or substance included: - a detailed description of the characteristic features - indictions for safe use - medicinal and toxic effects - possible combinations with other substances - full-colour illustrations, generally two for each substance, showing the detailed characterisitcs of the item described A Materia Medica for Chinese Medicine has been written by two medically trained doctors who have worked as TCM therapists specializing in the use of Chinese herbs for more than 30 years. Based on their many years of teaching and practice, the book has been carefully compiled and designed to provide a concise and accurate practice-based reference for both students and practitioners.

This first volume describes 78 species of medicinal plants in 44 families, in which 7 families and 13 species are algae and fungi, 28 families and 52 species are ferns, 9 families and 13 species are gymnosperms. The algae include Laminaria japonica, Sargassum fusiforme, Ulva lactucam, Uiva pertusa et al.; the fungi include Calvatia lilacina, Calvatia lilacina, Cordyceps sobolifera, et al.; the gymnosperms include Ginkgo biloba, Pinus massoniana, Thuja orientalis, Ephedra sinica, Ephedra intermedia, Ephedra equisetina, et al. In each specie, it introduces the scientific names, herbal medicine names, characteristics, habitats, distributions, Acquisition and processing methods, medicinal traits, tastes, functions, use and dosages, and other information of medicinal plants. The color pictures of all species in their wild forms are presented, along with some pictures of medicinal products made of them. This book series has totally 10 volumes, which covers 2000 kinds of Chinese medicines that are commonly seen or used. These volumes not only introduce the efficacy function and some prescriptions of the medicines, but also introduce the biological characteristics of them in detail with clear photos of the habitats, so that readers can identify them in the field. Apart from the growing environment, the books expound the distribution areas and other information to facilitate researches and other applications. The volumes are targeted at readers of general interests and it is also of high referential value for scientific researcher and teachers. It can be used as a guide to researchers, clinical doctors, and students in the department of pharmaceutics and traditional Chinese medicine.

Traditional Chinese medicine has been used for thousands of years by a large population. It is currently still serving many of the health needs of the Chinese people; and still enjoying their confi dence it is practised in China in parallel with modern Western medical treatment. In addition to scientific organisations dedi cated to modern Western medicine, e. g. the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and various medical schools, a series of parallel institutions have been established in China to promote traditional Chinese medicine, such as the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and training institutions. Almost all hospitals in China have a department of traditional medicine. Furthermore, a large number of scientific journals are dedicated to traditional Chinese medicine, covering both experimental and clinical investigations. Medicinal materials constitute a key topic in the treatment of disease according to traditional Chinese medicine. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia (1985 edition) is therefore divided into two sepa rate volumes, Volume I containing traditional Chinese medicinal materials and preparations and Volume II containing pharmaceu tics of Western medicine. The oldest Chinese review of medicinal materials, Shennong Bencao Jing (100-200 A. D. ), covered 365 herbal drugs. The clas sic compilation in this field, Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica), was published in 1578 by Li Shi-zhen and recorded as many as 1898 crude drugs of plant, animal and min eral origin.

Volume IX in the Ben cao gang mu series offers a complete translation of chapters 47 through 52, devoted to fowls, domestic and wild animals, and human substances. The Ben cao gang mu is a sixteenth-century Chinese encyclopedia of medical matter and natural history by Li Shizhen (1518–1593). The culmination of a sixteen-hundred-year history of Chinese medical and pharmaceutical literature, it is considered the most important and comprehensive book ever written in the history of Chinese medicine and remains an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners. This nine-volume series reveals an almost two-millennia-long panorama of wide-ranging observations and sophisticated interpretations, ingenious manipulations, and practical applications of natural substances for the benefit of human health. Paul Unschuld's annotated translation of the Ben cao gang mu, presented here with the original Chinese text, opens a rare window into viewing the people and culture of China's past.