This unique book is a collaborative effort between researchers at Rutgers University and colleagues from numerous institutions in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. It will be the first book to document more than 200 of the most important medicinal plants of Central Asia, many whose medicinal uses and activities are being described in English for the first time. The majority of the plants described grow wild in Central Asia with some being endemic, while other species have been introduced to Central Asia but are commonly used in regional plant based medicine. The book contains four introductory chapters. The first and second chapters cover the geography, climate and vegetation of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, respectively. The third chapter provides a brief history of medicinal plant use and science in Central Asia and the fourth chapter contains general information about phytochemistry. The fifth chapter comprises the bulk of the book and covers 208 medicinal plant species. Nearly all species have one or more high quality, color photographs. Three useful appendices have been included. The first is a glossary of botanical and ecological terms, the second is a glossary of chemistry terms and the third is a glossary of medical terms. During the preparation of this manuscript we found there to be a deficiency in quality reference resources for the translation of many of the technical terms associated with the different branches of science covered in this book. In order to make our job easier we compiled glossaries over the course of preparing the manuscript and have included them feeling that they will be an extremely valuable resource for readers.

This volume provides a comprehensive review of the family, Gentianaceae, covering phylogeny, classification, biogeography, palynology, phytochemistry, and morphology, and also presents the first classification of the entire family to be published for over 100 years, generated using modern molecular- and morphology-based phylogenetic data. The volume places the Gentianaceae in context with its relatives in the order Gentianales and subclass Asteridae; presents an updated, phylogenetic classification of tribes, subtribes, and genera; investigates the corroborative value of morphological features in phylogenetic diagnoses; and comprehensively summarizes palynology, seed morphology, and phytochemistry.