The authors, from their backgrounds in ethnobotany and phytochemistry, have included and described 1,479 species and variants, representing 596 genera in 145 plant families. Of these, half have had little or no real investigation of their chemical and pharmacological properties. From reviews:
`The most important work on South American ethnobotany ever published ... it deserves a place of honor on the bookshelves of botanists, anthropologists, chemists, pharmacologists, conservationists, and other nature lovers around the world.' Mark Plotkin, Conservation International. `A great ethnobotanist has brought together a huge amount of information to produce a book that will remain a standard reference in Amazonian botany for many years to come.' Ghillean T Prance