Acta Studiorum Medicorum et Biomedicorum

Open-access, peer-reviewed journal edited by Apostolos Zarros and published semiannually by St Cuthbert Press Ltd (Stanley, England, UK)

ISSN (print): 2977-6295
ISSN (online): 2977-6309

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Acta Stud. Med. Biomed.

1(1): 19–23 (2025)

BOOK REVIEW | open access

The culmination of Ali Esmail Al-Snafi’s monumental work of ethnopharmacological interest: a review of the Encyclopedia of the Constituents and Pharmacological Effects of Iraqi Medicinal Plants – Volume 9 (ISBN: 978-93-6388-552-3)

Apostolos Zarros*

St Cuthbert Press Ltd, Stanley, England, UK; College of Pharmacy, University of Babylon, Hillah, Iraq (AZ)
*corresponding author (apostoloszarros@actastudiorum.com)

Received: 23 June 2025; Accepted: 25 June 2025; Published: 27 June 2025

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15753097

Full-text article: PDF

Abstract: This book review critically examines Volume 9 (2024) of Prof. Ali Esmail Al-Snafi’s Encyclopaedia of the Constituents and Pharmacological Effects of Iraqi Medicinal Plants; the concluding instalment of a decade-long scholarly effort to catalogue Iraq’s medicinal plants and record the latest understanding of their constituents and of their pharmacological potential. Alphabetically covering species from Tamarix mannifera to Zygophyllum fabago, the volume adheres to the structural conventions established in preceding entries, offering standardized chapters that summarize taxonomic data, traditional uses, chemical constituents, and pharmacological effects for 29 plant species. The encyclopaedia constitutes a monumental contribution to the documentation of Iraq’s ethnobotanical heritage and its ethnopharmacological potential. While Volume 9 is more up-to-date than earlier volumes of the same encyclopaedia in terms of literature coverage, the work shares structural limitations with its predecessors. Chief among these are the absence of visual elements, of analytical contents, and of an index; features whose inclusion would have greatly enhanced the work’s navigability and didactic potential. Nonetheless, the encyclopaedia stands as a valuable reference for ethnopharmacologists and regional scholars. Its significance lies not only in the accurate data it consolidates, but in the scholarly continuity and bibliographic intent it embodies. This book review reflects on the work’s contributions and limitations, thereby hinting at how future editions or adaptations could evolve in order to improve accessibility and research utility. The encyclopaedia is recommended for academic libraries serving the medical, biomedical, or pharmaceutical sciences as well as for scholars engaged in ethnopharmacological research.

Keywords: encyclopaedia; ethnobotany; ethnopharmacology; Iraq; medicinal plants

Zarros A.: The culmination of Ali Esmail Al-Snafi’s monumental work of ethnopharmacological interest: a review of the Encyclopedia of the Constituents and Pharmacological Effects of Iraqi Medicinal Plants – Volume 9 (ISBN: 978-93-6388-552-3). Acta Stud. Med. Biomed. 1(1): 19–23 (2025).
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15753097

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