Book reviews

VALERIANÐTHE GENUS VALERIANA, edited by PeterJ. Houghton, Harwood Academic Publishers, Amsterdam,

The Netherlands, 1997. No. of pages: xi � 142, ISBN9-05702-170-6, hardback.PERILLAÐTHE GENUS PERILLA, edited by He-Ci Yu,

Kenichi Kosuna and Megumi Haga, Harwood AcademicPublishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1997. No. ofpages: xiii � 191, ISBN 9-05702-171-4, hardback.

These books represent the ®rst two volumes in a projectedseries of monographs entitled Medicinal and AromaticPlantsÐIndustrial Pro®les. The series aims to provide

industry and academia with in-depth coverage of the majormedicinal and aromatic plants of industrial importance in agenus. The published books contain review articles discussing

key topics, such as plant sources and their commercialcultivation, chemical composition, quality assurance,pharmacological properties, toxicology, uses and market

trends. The series no doubt has its origins in the increasedinterest in phytotherapeutic agents or `herbal remedies'which, since the 1980s, has directed renewed scienti®c andclinical attention towards such products and their sources.

Indeed, for the two published volumes the majority of thecited literature dates from the period 1980±1996. However,part of this renewed interest stems from a growing realization

that the traditional use of these materials often has a scienti®c

basis and both books detail the historical as well as modernuses. `Herbal remedies' are also looked on as sources of new

leads for conventional pharmaceuticals, but both valerianand perilla su�er from the common problem that no singlecompound, or even group of compounds, is responsible for

the overall pharmacological e�ect. Both books largely ful®lthe aim of the series and bring together a wealth ofinformation from a wide range of sources. The majordi�erence between the volumes is in their organization. The

Valeriana book is generally concisely and clearly laid out,with the relevant information summarized in single chaptersdevoted to the chemistry, pharmacology, cultivation, quality

assurance, etc. In the Perilla book, the layout is not asconcise, with several chapters often dealing with di�erentaspects of the chemistry or pharmacology: the feel of the

book is much more of a conference proceedings on Perilla,rather than a monograph. However, this does not diminishthe value of the book with (presumably) each of the current

research groups given the opportunity of contributing achapter. Both books can be fully recommended to all, eventhose who now only have a causal interest in this ®eld.

JOHN CONNER

The Scotch Whisky Research Institute,Edinburgh, UK

FLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL

Flavour Fragr. J., 14, 251 (1999)

Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. CCC 0882±5734/99/040251±01$17.50