World Spice Plants

Despite their long tradition spices are subject to international modern scientific research. This has made it necessary to disseminate knowledge to a large audience of interest. The book addresses this need by informing the reader about the complex worldwide use of spice plants.

The many spice and aromatic plants are arranged in alphabetical order of their botanical relevance. It includes all species which have been cultivated for the above purposes. It also covers species whose usage has long ceased or which are used only rarely or have become wild. In this respect the author has aimed at comprehensiveness. In total over 1400 plants have been collated.

The very extensive register of literature has been designed to facilitate intensive study of a specific plant or spice. Works both on botany and agriculture, and on chemistry, pharmacodynamics and usage have been considered.

The book is aimed principally at spice and aroma experts, pharmacists, botanists and interested lay persons. But the author also had in mind food chemists, dieticians and agricultural scientists, for whom botany, chemistry and pharmacological aspects may be of interest. It is hoped that those occupied in the spice and aroma industry involved in creating spice blends and the like will also take inspiration from the book.

• Plant Spice
• World Spice Plants
• agriculture
• botanics
• botany
• chemistry
• plant
• plants
• taxonomy

From the reviews:

"This encyclopedic guidebook covers over 1,400 spice plants from the world over, including economically important spice plants and aromatic plants. The lay-out of the book is simple and easy-to-read. … The extensive reference section is one of the more useful features. … The authors also include instructive color photographs of many of the plants growing in the field and in the form in which they are used … . Overall, this is an instructive and useful reference book for school libraries and food science laboratories." (Marissa Oppel, SIDA, Vol. 22 (2), 2006)

• Potsdam, Germany

  Johannes Seidemann