Overview
Did you know that Vanilla was formerly served as aphrodisiac by Cassanova and Madam Pompadour, and Elizabeth I loved its flavor? This is the first book that provides a complete worldwide coverage of orchids being employed as aphrodisiacs, medicine or charms and food. Opening with an in-depth historical account of orchids (orchis Greek testicle), the author describes how the Theory of Signatures influenced ancient herbalists to regard terrestrial orchid tubers as aphrodisiacs. Doctors and apothecaries promoted it during the Renaissance. Usage of orchids in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Indian Ayurvedic Medicine; by Tibetan yogins and Amchi healers for longevity pills, tonics and aphrodisiacs; by Africans to prepare 'health promoting' chikanda or as survival food when lost in the Australian bush are some highlights of the book. Early settlers in America and the East Indies often relied on native remedies and employment of orchids for such needs is described. Also covered are the search for medicinal compounds by scientists, attempts to prove the orchid's efficacy by experiment and the worry of conservationists.
Full Product Details
Author: Eng Soon Teoh
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Imprint: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Edition: 1st ed. 2019
Weight: 0.906kg
ISBN: 9783030182571
ISBN 10: 3030182576
Pages: 376
Publication Date: 15 August 2020
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
“This is an excellent, properly referenced, scholarly, richly illustrated, beautiful, well-written, and enjoyable book, which should be of value and interest to orchid growers, medical scientists, and botanists in general.” (Joseph Arditti, Plant Science Bulletin, Vol. 66 (1), 2020)
This is an excellent, properly referenced, scholarly, richly illustrated, beautiful, well-written, and enjoyable book, which should be of value and interest to orchid growers, medical scientists, and botanists in general. (Joseph Arditti, Plant Science Bulletin, Vol. 66 (1), 2020)
Author Information
Formerly a prize-winning author of scientific papers, Dr. Eng Soon Teoh, MD, FRCOG, FACS, has done equally well with his books for the general readership. He has been involved with orchids for over 50 years and is a past-president of the Orchid Society of South East Asia, Dr. Teoh spent many years doing laboratory research in London, Uppsala (Sweden), Miami and Singapore, places that gave him the opportunity to study orchids.He is author of a dozen books on orchids, lotus, medical topics, etc. "" .. an astonishing book for its encyclopaedic coverage of the use of orchids in Asian herbal medicine. … it should remain the standard reference book on the subject for decades."" Review of Eng Soon Teoh’s Medicinal Orchids of Asia (2016) by Henry Oakeley
