Beschrijving

The book serves as a comprehensive and authoritative reference for the practice of Chinese herbal medicine, offering detailed monographs on over 530 of the most commonly-used herbs in the Chinese pharmacopoeia. Each herb entry is organized with its botanical, pharmaceutical and common names (in Chinese, English, Japanese, and Korean), followed by its traditional properties — taste, temperature, meridian-affinities — dosage, cautions, actions, indications, typical combinations and modern pharmacological and clinical research commentary. The herbs are grouped functionally, which allows for comparison of similar herbs and supports a clinical understanding of how they may be selected and used. In addition to the herb-monographs, the book offers rich contextual material: an introduction tracing the development of Chinese herbal medicine, discussions of preparation and processing methods (paozhì), nomenclature issues, adulterants and substitutions, and classification tables. It also includes extensive indices, cross-reference tables, and summary comparison tables designed to support both students and practicing clinicians. For students of traditional Chinese medicine as well as experienced herbal practitioners, this Materia Medica stands out because of its depth, practicality, and bridging of classical Chinese sources with modern clinical and pharmacological insight. It’s widely regarded as a standard go-to reference in the West for Chinese herbology — offering both a learning tool and a clinical companion.