This encyclopedic reference work on pharmacognosy covers the study of those natural substances, principally plants, that find a use in medicine.

This edition also covers application of gene transfer techniques to the production of medicinal plants, and there are new chapters on: antiprotozoals, oral hypoglycaemic and anti-mepatotoxic drugs, and on vitamins and hormones.

Plants and their structures. From plant to phytopharmaceutical. Orders and families of plants: recent research references. Phytochemistry. Drugs of biological origin. Microscopical analysis and commercial fibres.