A Herbal of Iraq - by Shahina A Ghazanfar & Chris Thorogood (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An illustrated and informative guide to Iraqi herbal medicine.

The flora of Iraq is particularly rich and varied, owing to the country's diverse landscapes of deserts, plains, and mountains. Accordingly, plant-based medicine has always played an important role in the daily lives of Iraqis. Edited by experts from both the University of Oxford and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew--working in collaboration with Iraqi botanists--A Herbal of Iraq describes fifty plants and their uses in traditional herbal medicine in the region. In addition to the wealth of information it contains, this dual-language English-Arabic herbal is illustrated throughout with archival and contemporary botanical art, making it an object of beauty as well as a helpful resource.

Review Quotes

"A Herbal of Iraq, edited by Shahina A.Ghazanfar and Chris J. Thorogood, is a beautifully illustrated bilingual, English and Arabic text that highlights 50 plants commonly used in Iraqi herbal medicine. With an inclusion of both archival and contemporary botanical illustrations, this important collaborative effort between Iraqi botanists, herbalists and botanical experts from both the Kew, the Royal Botanic Garden, and the University of Oxford, provide key information on the biogeography and main uses of plant communities that are integral to understanding Iraqi ethnobotanical medicine."-- "Economic Botany"

About the Author

Shahina A. Ghazanfar is a senior botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and coeditor of Flora of Tropical East Africa, also published by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Chris J. Thorogood is deputy director and head of science of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, and the author of Chasing Plants, copublished by the University of Chicago Press and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Weird Plants, Field Guide to the Wildflowers of the Western Mediterranean, and Field Guide to the Wildflowers of the Eastern Mediterranean, all published by Kew.