Lianas (woody vines) are iconic symbols of tropical forests around the world. These plants use the energetically expensive investment of trees in woody stems to gain relatively inexpensive access to the light-rich canopy. The evolution of a climbing habit has occurred in many unrelated plant groups using twining and clasping shoots or specialized structures such as tendrils, hooks, spines, adhesive roots, and internal stem anatomy. Lianas contribute significantly to tropical forest diversity (25-40% of species), carbon sequestration, biomass, plant-animal interactions and forest gap dynamics. Although they are often considered pests in commercial forestry, woody climbers are important to many traditional peoples as medicines, subsistence fibers and non-timber forest products. Largely due to their inaccessibility, lianas and other climbers remain among the most poorly documented lifeforms in the tropics. 0This book aims to facilitate learning and identification of woody climbers of the Guianas (Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname) for specialists and non-specialists by using an image-rich format, common and scientific names, simplified botanical terminology, and character icon guides, and by describing ecology and uses.

This book describes and illustrates plants used medicinally in coastal Guyana. It includes entries for 173 native and naturalised Guyanese plants, as well as a few cultivated species. Of these, 148 are illustrated by line drawings, the majority of which have been created by local artists. The methods used in compiling the data included interviews, plant collection and identification, literature search for chemical and pharmacological information and some basic screening carried out locally.