“Medicinal Plants” by S. K. Jain presents about 100 medicinal plants of India. It includes only authentic information based on pharmacological and other experimental work.
In olden days, many people believed that medicinal plants had miraculous properties like bringing the dead back to life. As times changed, people started weighing everything with reason and several of earlier beliefs seemed unsound. As a result, the use of medicinal herbs declined.
Until 1950, few of our medicinal plants had been subjected to scientific testing and experimentation. Consequently, it was difficult to state with certainty for or against the claims of their efficacy.
Now, this book deals with important medicinal plants of India, narrating their authentic medicinal properties in a lucid manner. The book has become very popular with two revised editions (latest one in 1996) and several reprints. For each plant, botanical name along with names in several Indian languages is given in the book and this has made it very useful.