Anatomical Atlas of Malaysian Medicinal Plants: Volume 4

Anatomical Atlas of Malaysian Medicinal Plants: Volume 4 . 2008. Penerbit UKM: Bangi. ISBN 978-983-942-863-6 (paper back cover). RM35.00. 160 pages. Khatijah Hussin, Mohamad Ruzi Abdul Rahman, Nurulnahar Esa.

In the last few decades, herbal medicine is gaining worldwide acceptance as complementary or alternative medicine. With the increase in the popularity of plants as an alternative medicine, more herbal drugs are now available in various forms in the market. Due to the increase in demand, the price of raw materials has also inevitably increased. There has been a rapid development in the herbal industries utilizing locally available plants, either wild or introduced. Therefore, an accurate identification is crucial before chemists and pharmacognosists can search for new chemical substances from these plants and repeat their experiments. According to the latest report, there are about 1,200 species of plants in this country that have potential pharmaceutical value. The study of plant anatomy is central in identification or confirmation of species, especially in the absence of floral or fruiting materials. Studies have shown that many anatomical characteristic of the leaves and petioles vary between species. These include the structure of the leaf midribs, laminas, margins, venation, patterns and epidermis. A detailed anatomical description of the plant organ would be very useful to help identify the cells and tissue fragments for the confirmation of species in herbal product. Altogether, Anatomical Atlas of Malaysian Medicinal Plants is published in a series of several volumes. Each volume describes and illustrates anatomical structure of 30 species of the medicinal plants in traditional medicine of Malaysia.

KHATIJAH HUSSIN, Ph. D., is an Associate Professor at the School of Environmental and Natural Resources, Faculty of Science and Technology. MOHAMAD RUZI ABDUL RAHMAN is a Research Assistant at the same faculty. NURULNAHAR ESA is a research officer at Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute.

Published by:

Penerbit UKM

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,

43600, Bangi, Selangor,

Malaysia.

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