Pharmacognosy of Indian Aconites. 2018. 95 col.pls. 211 p. gr8vo. Hardcover.

The increasing popularity of herbal medicine in India is putting pressure on wild plant populations, as most raw materials are collected from the wild. Further, commercial crude drugs occur either as whole parts (roots, rhizomes, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds), fragments or powders, which gives room to illegal trade and malpractice. In 1998, the government of India placed some rare and endangered plants on the Negative List of Exports, including aconites (also known as wolf's bane), which bans trade of export of plants collected from the wild. Relevant pharmacognostic data (pharmacognosy is the study of medicines derived from natural sources, usually plants) to enforce this is scanty, however. This book is a pictorial identification manual for the genus Aconitum that will allow the identification of raw root samples and to check for adulteration. Aimed at authorities involved in customs, wildlife crime prevention and trade, this book will be useful to physicians, drug manufacturers, and researchers.