Identification of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Iran

Identification of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Iran, Vali Allah Mozaffarian

The book of “Identification of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Iran” contains the complete description of 850 medicinal plants of Iran, that has been published by the endeavor’s of Dr. Vali Allah Mozaffarian, the professor of botany of Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands of Iran, and by investment of National Network of Research and Technology in Medicinal Plants.

With respect to this book, Dr. Peyman Salehi, the Secretary of National Network of Research and Technology in Medicinal Plants, said, “Presently, with the development of botany, more than eight thousand plant species have been identified in Iran, which is estimated that out of this number two thousand  three hundred species have medicinal properties. However, despite the existence of such generous blessings, the use of these medicinal plants in different industries of Iran is insignificant in comparison to that of developed or developing countries. In this book the summary of the introduction of medicinal plants, their uses for different ailments, and the method of selection and the use of the medicinal plant is presented step by step with pictures.

Dr. Vali Allah Mozaffarian, the writer of this book, has more than 35 years of experience in botany. In this book he has published the specifications of 850 species of medicinal plants. One of the books specialty is that all the pictures seen in the book are taken by the writer himself. According to Dr. Salehi, this book is published in one thousand three hundred of all-colored pages. The book of “Identification of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Iran” entered the market by Farhang Moaser Publisher with the circulation of three thousand copies and the price of 90,000 Toman.

The book of the Year

Dr.Vali Allah Mozaffarian, on the sidelines of the 31st Book of the Year Closing ceremony, believed that the introduction of medicinal plants to the society and the truth about traditional medicine are the book’s inflection point and the reason why it was chosen as the book of the year.

Dr. Vali Allah Mozaffarian, the writer of “Identification of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Iran” whose work was chosen in the special sciences category of biology, stated, “The main motivation for the authorship of this book was to acquaint the traditional medicine society with the truth about Iran’s traditional medicine.”

The Passage from Oral Culture to the Written One

He continued to say, “my main purpose was to change the oral culture to the written one,because unfortunately, these days we can see that wrong information regarding plants and their growing regions is given to the readers.”

This member of Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands of Iran said that most of the books of traditional medicine in Iran are translations, he also added, “Right now, most of the books on medicinal plants on the bookstore shelves are translations and unfortunately, the majority of these translators are not botanists but mere translators.’’

Identification of Medicinal Plants; Groundwork for Botany

This botanist emphasized that the identification of medicinal plants is the groundwork for the science of botany and said, “The thirty six-year experience in this field has made it possible to understand the problems of medicinal plant identification, and to gain a lot of knowledge in the field of the correct identification of medicinal plants and their uses.”

Mozaffarian added, “The identification of medicinal plants is the first step of botany and the use of these plants is the next steps.”

Translation of Works Without The Necessary Expertise and Knowledge

He considered the biggest problem of identification of medicinal plants to be the translation of the texts without the correct knowledge of the growing origins of these plants, he said, “The authorship and translation of different books in the field of medicinal plants is inaccessible and irrelevant to Iran, also the translation of works of botany is done by nonprofessionals, which is the other problem in this field of study.”

The winner of the Book of the Year Award, also deemed it necessary to carry out laboratory research in order to prove the correct identity of a plant and its use. He added, “Since all the reliable sources of the world in botany and some other sciences belong to the western countries, it is of significance that the Iranian experts in this field endeavor to provide their special researches in Latin.”

This botanical activist who also works as a researcher in Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands of Iran, honored the veterans in traditional medicine and asked the addressees of this field of study to beware of absolute, one-sided, judgements without scientific knowledge.

In a brief introduction of the book, Mozaffarian said, “This book contains specifications of 850 plant species which together with their pictures is presented to the readers and the society of traditional medicine.”

The book of “Identification of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Iran” was also chosen as the book of the season in the 24th Book of the Season Award in 2013.

Dr. Mozaffarian

Getting to know the writer

Vali Allah Mozaffarian is the writer of the work which was awarded as the book of the year in the 31st Book of the Year Award, he is now member of scientific board of Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands of Iran, and so far 16 of his works in the field of “medicinal plants” have been published. Mozaffarian is the first botanist who has suggested new names for medicinal plants of Iran.