Zambian Plants: their vernacular names and uses

Zambian plants: their vernacular names and uses is an essential reference book for any botanist working in Zambia. For the first time, a comprehensive list of vernacular names, derived from many referenced sources, are linked with up to date scientific names. The value of vernacular name lists will be apparent to anyone with field experience, but that is not all that this book provides. It is also the most comprehensive review of the uses of Zambian plants ever published, listing some 8,181 examples of plant use. Even in this technological age, it is worth remembering that 65% of the drugs that we use in treating cancer are derived from plants. There may well be effective cures in this book that have not yet found wide use, and deserve to do so. In addition, to the millions of rural Zambians who rely on bush products in their everyday lives there is nothing esoteric about the information presented in this book. Indeed, by documenting the utility of wild plants to man, we help to ensure their future survival. This book will be of great value to a wide range of people, including botanists, conservationists, foresters, agriculturalists, pharmacologists, economists, teachers and students. The book started life as a couple of appendices in A dictionary of Ila Usage 1860 - 1960, published in 2000. It was then expanded into a paper, Traditional Ila plant remedies from Zambia, published in Kirkia 18 (19): 35-48 in 2002, and has since developed into the present comprehensive botanical work.