The American Botanical Council (ABC), Austin, TX, has selected two authors as joint recipients of this year’s James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award. Co-authors, herbalists, clinicians, and researchers Simon Mills and Kerry Bone will receive ABC’s 2013 award for the significantly revised and updated edition of their internationally renowned herbal medicine clinical practice guide, Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy: Modern Herbal Medicine, 2nd edition (Churchill Livingstone, 2013).

 
The Duke Award is given annually to a book or books that provide a significant contribution to literature in the fields of botany, taxonomy, ethnobotany, phytomedicine, and other disciplines related to the vast field of medicinal plants.
Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy is widely regarded as the first comprehensive, science-based guide for herbal medicine practitioners. “From our work as educators we recognized the need for herbal clinicians and students to have a modern text that balanced both traditional practices and modern evidence,” said Ms. Bone.
 
“It really was the first text that addressed our own needs in the clinic: how do we formulate for an individual who is asking for help in front of us?” said Mr. Mills. “As we did not have a reference, we had to write one ourselves! It is still distinctive for this reason.”


 
Containing more than 1000 pages of practical, thoroughly referenced information, the new edition of Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy has been extensively updated with the most relevant scientific and clinical data from the past 15 years. Significant revisions were made to sections on pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics, safety and herb-drug interactions, and herbal treatment for chronic disease states. In particular, the second edition contains six new herbal monographs, discussions of many additional conditions such as asthma, migraines, and prostate cancer, and innovative hypotheses on herbal therapies for inflammation and autoimmune disease.