BRITISH HERBAL COMPENDIUM Volume 2

A handbook of scientific information on widely used plant drugs

This new volume of the Compendium, written by Peter Bradley, former Chairman of the ESCOP Scientific Committee, is the most ambitious work ever published by the BHMA. In a concise and readable style the monographs summarize and review the evidence base for many important phytomedicines, providing up-to-date information of interest to everyone in the field.

Click here to view a sample monograph
 (Sage Leaf)

ISBN 0-903032-12-0          Hardback          Published in 2006

80 monographs (listed below); xvi + 409 pages;
105 diagrams (illustrating the structures of 321 constituents); 
8 tables of clinical studies

At a time of wide public interest in herbal medicines, the need has never been greater for up-to-date summaries of the available scientific knowledge on medicinal plants. This authoritative text will be invaluable to all involved in research, manufacture, supply or control of herbal medicines and to practitioners and students of phytotherapy.

Based primarily on published research and broadly following the concise format of Volume 1, but in greater depth, each monograph has sections on constituents (with structure diagrams), pharmacology and clinical studies together with therapeutics, safety data and regulatory status. References to worldwide scientific literature form a key part of the text and over 3000 full citations are included. The monograph on Echinacea (12 pages; 73 references, 3 tables of clinical studies) covers all the species and plant parts used therapeutically, differentiates their constituents in separate subsections and collectively reviews all the randomized placebo-controlled studies published up to 2005.

What others have said about this book  

The Pharmaceutical Journal  2007; 279: 77
“Clinical studies…..are discussed in a way that makes evaluating the evidence as easy as possible”
“it is the clarity and ease of navigation which makes this book stand out from other books on herbal medicines”
Professor Elizabeth Williamson, School of Pharmacy, University of Reading

Journal of Ethnopharmacology  2006; 107: 470-1
“provides a state-of-the-art, critical review of the botanical drugs included.…an important addition to the library of anyone with a genuine interest in any aspect of medicinal plant research”.
Professor Michael Heinrich, Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, University of London

Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies (FACT)  2007; 12: 65

“a comprehensive resource of the most important plant-based drugs…well laid out, easily accessible…gives key facts in a succinct style”
“I can recommend this book to anyone with an interest in herbal medicine”
Max H Pittler, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter & Plymouth

Australian Journal of Medical Herbalism  2006; 18: 122
“An essential inclusion in your clinical reference material”
Adelaine Browne

List of monographs in the BRITISH HERBAL COMPENDIUM Volume 2

Click here for an order form for the BRITISH HERBALCOMPENDIUM Volume 2

ISBN 0-903032-11-2          Softcover          
261 monographs               256 pages

In the European Union the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD), adopted on 31 March 2004 as Directive 2004/24 EC, provides opportunities for herbal products to be restored to their former role as popular medicines. Under the new scheme, a transitional period of up to 7 years is permitted to achieve registration for traditional herbal products already on the market when the THMPD came into force. In the UK the regulatory authority, the MHRA, intends to allow the transitional period to run until 2011.

"Traditional use" is defined under the terms of the new Directive. It requires the product to have been in medicinal use for 30 years preceding the date of application for registration, including 15 years in the European Community.

This book is a guide to traditional uses of medicinal plants which may be relevant to label claims under the new Directive. It brings together information on documented European uses of 263 herbs that may help to satisfy requirements relating to "traditional use". The information originates from monographs prepared for the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia during the early 1970s, from the official French guidelines "Les Médicaments à Base de Plantes", from German Commission E monographs and certain other authoritative sources. Where herbal combinations are recognized these are also listed.

ISBN 0 903032 10 4          Hardback   

169 monographs, 212 pages; complete with analytical methods

Monographs of the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia 1996 (BHP) provide quality standards for 169 herbal raw materials - basically those listed for the two volumes of the British Herbal Compendium plus six others (Ispaghula Seed, Linseed, Lucerne, Mistletoe Herb, Psyllium Seed and Wild Cherry Bark).

Those herbs official in the European Pharmacopoeia or British Pharmacopoeia at the time of publication are covered by abbreviated monographs in this volume. Subsequent work by the European Pharmacopoeia Commission (Council of Europe) has led to the introduction of many more herbal monographs in the European Pharmacopoeia. Nevertheless, the BHP remains a very useful aid to quality assurance, particularly for herbs not featured in official pharmacopoeias.

The basic format of a monograph includes

Characteristics: Macroscopical and microscopical descriptions of the herbal material, prepared by eminent pharmacognosists, together with odour and taste descriptions.

Identification: In devising techniques for comparative identification, particular attention was paid to thin-layer chromatography (TLC) with the help of chromatography specialists. All the TLC methods were designed to be within the scope of the average chemical laboratory. Complex procedures and the need for a wide range of chemical markers were deliberately avoided.

Quantitative Standards: Depending on the material, these may include limits for foreign matter, loss on drying, total and/or acid-insoluble ash, amounts of solvent extractives and volatile oil. The limits were set after extensive consultation with the industry, herbal practitioners and academics to arrive at realistic control specifications for assurance of quality without excluding satisfactory materials of commerce. Quantitative assays for active principles are not included in the monographs because, in the majority of cases, it is not possible to determine which individual components within a herb are the actives. Herbs contain a complex and synergistic mixture of active compounds which rarely exhibit the same potency when isolated.

Material of Commerce: A brief description of the form of the material and its main geographical sources.

Powdered Material: A description of characteristic macroscopical and microscopical features.

Action: Very briefly, the principal pharmacological action(s) of the herb.

ISBN 0-903032-09-0          Hardback          Published in 1992

84 monographs (listed below); 239 pages; 81 diagrams (illustrating the structures of 358 constituents); over 1000 references.

As can be seen from the list below, Volume 1 of the Compendium covers a different range of plant drugs to those featured in Volume 2. Each volume is complete in itself, but taken together Volumes 1 and 2 cover almost all the plant drugs for which specifications appear in the BHP 1996. Produced by the BHMA Scientific Committee and edited by Peter Bradley, the Volume 1 monographs offer authoritative summaries of Constituents (with phytochemical structure diagrams) and Therapeutics, copiously referenced to worldwide scientific literature, together with a section on Regulatory Status and excerpts from French guidelines and German Commission E monographs. The format is broadly similar to that of Volume 2 (of which a sample monograph can be downloaded from this site). However, since less herbal research had been published back in 1992, Volume 1 monographs are generally shorter in length and have less detail on Pharmacology, Clinical Studies and Safety than those found in Volume 2; they reflect the level of data available at that time.

List of monographs in the BRITISH HERBAL COMPENDIUM Volume 1