Beautifully illustrated, this informative book describes the plants integral to Hawaiian medicine and healing, and discusses their uses past and present.

This book is intended as a general introduction to the ethnobotany of the Hawaiians and as such it presumes, on the part of the reader, little background in either botany or Hawaiian ethnology. It describes the plants themselves, whether cultivated or brought from the forests, streams, or ocean, as well as the modes of cultivation and collection. It discusses the preparation and uses of the plant materials, and the methods employed in building houses and making canoes, wearing apparel, and the many other artifacts that were part of the material culture associated with this farming and fishing people.

An introduction to 20 plants of the Ancient Hawaiians. Includes illustrations, uses, proverbs, and poems.

"Hawaiian herbal medicine, as practiced by the ancient Hawaiians, is emerging as a popular alternative to traditional medical practices today. This book provides ancient remedies for such ailments as headache, sore throat, insomnia, disorders in women, general loss of energy, as well as remedies for mending broken bones and insect bites."--Page 4 of cover.

"The aim of this book is to present a picture of past and present Polynesian medicinal plants. Although several books have been published on herbal medicine in Polynesia, these are either limited in geographic scope (mostly to Hawai'i) or are unscientific in basis. Restricting the study of herbal medicine to a single Polynesian island or archipelago is a disadvantage because the early accounts of medicinal practices are so sketchy. A more comprehensive approach is rewarding because so much can be learned from the similarities among the various Polynesian cultures. A scientific approach is necessary because of the nature of the subject--medicine and plants. "To establish a comprehensive and scientific basis for this book, three types of research were conducted: (1) an extensive review of the literature on Polynesia; (2) interviews with scores of Polynesian healers in Hawai'i, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti. the Cook Islands, and Tokelau; and (3) botanical collecting work in Polynesia over a twenty-year period, involving over forty research trips to the South Pacific." --from the Preface

"Native Hawaiian plants make up a unique flora because of the extreme isolation of the Hawaiian Islands. When the Polynesian settlers arrived, they encountered many plants that they did not know before. Over the course of generations, the Hawaiian people learned how to use the native flora to meet their needs. Along with the crops that the settlers introduced from the South Pacific, native plants became the basis for Hawaiian society and economy. In addition to describing the plants and their habitats, this guide relates the significance that native and Polynesian-introduced plants had to traditional Hawaiian culture, and tells how these plants are still used today." --Back cover.

A Hawaii-based practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, David Bruce Leonard, has just released the new book Medicine at Your Feet: Healing Plants of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Taking ten years to complete, this first volume is one of the most authoritative sources of information on Hawaiian medicinal plants. Exhaustively researched, Medicine at Your Feet contains cross-cultural uses for 49 different Hawaiian plant medicines, many of which are easy to find. Included is information on medicinal properties, food uses, chemical constituents, herbal combinations, plant gathering protocols, possible drug interactions, scientific research and much more. Here is what the experts have to say about Medicine at Your Feet: "This book is exactly what I want with me on my next trip to Hawaii . . . or even if I stay home." - - Jim Duke, author of The Green Pharmacy."David is a thorough scholar who really knows his plants. This is an excellent resource." - - Dennis McKenna, Senior Lecturer and Research Associate, Center for Spirituality and Healing, University of Minnesota.David Bruce Leonard is a practitioner and teacher of traditional Chinese medicine with a working knowledge of more than 400 traditional Hawaiian, Chinese, and Western plants. A deep ecologist and Hawaiian native plant specialist, he has been a student of Hawaiian medicine under Kahu Kawika Ka'alakea, Kaipo Kaneakua and Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i since 1992.

As both individuals and societies, we are making decisions today that will have profound consequences for future generations. From preserving Earth's plants and animals to altering our use of fossil fuels, none of these decisions can be made wisely without a thorough understanding of life's history on our planet through biological evolution. Companion to the best selling title Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science, Evolution in Hawaii examines evolution and the nature of science by looking at a specific part of the world. Tracing the evolutionary pathways in Hawaii, we are able to draw powerful conclusions about evolution's occurrence, mechanisms, and courses. This practical book has been specifically designed to give teachers and their students an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of evolution using exercises with real genetic data to explore and investigate speciation and the probable order in which speciation occurred based on the ages of the Hawaiian Islands. By focusing on one set of islands, this book illuminates the general principles of evolutionary biology and demonstrate how ongoing research will continue to expand our knowledge of the natural world.