by Steven Foster and Yue Chong-xi
This book grew out of a simple walk through Harvard Yard in Cambridge Massachusetts, with Dr. Shiu Ying Hu twenty-five years ago. Dr. Hu pointed to many familiar garden plants such as daylily, forsythia, peonies, and mums, and described their use in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Later she introduced me to Prof. Yue Chongxi from Beijing. Dr. Hu told me that Prof. Yue was from a well-known Chinese medical family. The Yue family have made traditional medicines in Beijing for over 400 years. Prof. Yue spent the year with me in 1987 and during that time we compiled the research that became Herbal Emissaries. The book covers Chinese herbs from a Western perspective. Forty-three herbs are covered in exacting detail including common, scientific and Chinese names, history of introduction and use, traditional and modern uses, description, distribution, cultivation, harvesting and processing details, with additional notations. It includes information found in no other English-language book on Chinese herbs. Healing Arts Press. 1992. 356 pp. Softcover. $19.95 Order at the Amazon.com link below.