Anti-Fertility Plants of the Pacific

There is a growing interest in traditional medicine systems as a source of considerable knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants. Traditional medicines have the potential to offer leads in identifying potentially valuable chemicals that can be developed into new and more effective drugs, including safer contraceptives.;This study of the Pacific region should be of interest to pharmacologists, anthropologists, botanists, chemists, family planning researchers, and Pacific stduents. The book documents available information on plants that have been traditionally used for anti-fertility and fertility purposes in the Pacific region. The authors have used anthropologists' accounts, explorers' reports and other recorded literature to establish which plants have been used as contraceptives and abortifacients in Pacific Island societies over the last two centuries. The botanical information in this work is intended to assist the recognition of the species and to indicate where the plants may be found.