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Jamaican society has retained a particularly vibrant tradition of folk herbal (bush) medicine. The cache of native plants and practices used by the island's original Amerindian population was, over the centuries, successively enriched by contributions from the peoples of Africa, Europe and Asia. Today the custom not only endures: it is gaining scientific recognition and continues to spread abroad on the heels of the Jamaican diaspora.

In Herbal Plants of Jamaica, the widespread cultural practice of using a multitude of healing, culinary and cosmetic herbs is distilled to a core of about 70 species. These plants are unambiguously identified by many means: scientific and local names, descriptions, habitat, images, origins, and associated herbal therapies presented in terms of remedies fashioned and maladies treated. Where possible, the chemical compounds that underlie the pharmaceutical activities of the herbs - beneficial or otherwise - are included.

This volume provides a well illustrated, easily read and no-nonsense guide to Jamaican wild herbs and their several medicinal and related uses.