Zambian Plants: Their Vernacular Names and Uses

Description

Zambian plants: their vernacular names and uses is a comprehensive list of vernacular names used by the millions of rural Zambians who rely on bush products in their everyday lives. 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. This book will be of great value to a wide ranging audience, including = botanists, conservationists, foresters, agriculturalists, pharmacologists, economists, teachers and students.

Dennis Fowler worked as a missionary in Zambia, mainly with the Ila people on the Kafue Flats. His interest in ethnobotany was first aroused by his discovery that the Ila language has over 740 words for trees and shrubs. He also wanted to help in the search for a cheap local cure for malaria, having himself suffered badly from the disease. He is the author of Zambian Plants Used in Traditional Fever Cures(Kew Publishing, 2011).