Plants provide the food, shelter, medicines, and biomass that underlie sustainable life. One of the earliest and often overlooked uses of plants is the production of smoke, dating to the time of early hominid species. Plant-derived smoke has had an enormous socio-economic impact throughout human history, being burned for medicinal and recreational purposes, magico-religious ceremonies, pest control, food preservation, and flavoring, perfumes, and incense.This illustrated global compendium documents and describes approximately 2,000 global uses for over 1,400 plant species. The Uses and Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke is accessibly written and provides a wealth of information on human uses for smoke. Divided into nine main categories of use, the compendium lists plant-derived smoke's medicinal, historical, ceremonial, ritual and recreational uses. Plant use in the production of incense and to preserve and flavor foods and beverages is also included. Each entry includes full binomial names and family, an identification of the person who named the plant, as well as numerous references to other scholarly texts. Of particular interest will be plants such as Tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum), Boswellia spp (frankincense), and Datura stramonium (smoked as a treatment for asthma all over the world), all of which are described in great detail.

Plants provide the food, shelter, medicines, and biomass that underlie sustainable life. One of the earliest and often overlooked uses of plants is the production of smoke, dating to the time of early hominid species. Plant-derived smoke has had an enormous socio-economic impact throughout human history, being burned for medicinal and recreational purposes, magico-religious ceremonies, pest control, food preservation, and flavoring, perfumes, and incense. This illustrated global compendium documents and describes approximately 2,000 global uses for over 1,400 plant species. The Uses and Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke is accessibly written and provides a wealth of information on human uses for smoke. Divided into nine main categories of use, the compendium lists plant-derived smoke's medicinal, historical, ceremonial, ritual and recreational uses. Plant use in the production of incense and to preserve and flavor foods and beverages is also included. Each entry includes full binomial names and family, an identification of the person who named the plant, as well as numerous references to other scholarly texts. Of particular interest will be plants such as Tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum), Boswellia spp (frankincense), and Datura stramonium (smoked as a treatment for asthma all over the world), all of which are described in great detail.

Ecology of Plant-Derived Smoke is the continuation of the research and discussion presented in Uses & Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke, published in 2010. Both books are the first of their kind in what is now an ever-expanding and exciting field of research. This volume focuses on the use of plant-derived smoke as a tool, used for promoting seed germination and growth. Our ancestors may have used smoke in this capacity for centuries. Only recently has the scientific community delved into understanding the ecology of smoke as a seed dormancy-breaking mechanism in fire-prone environments. Most research to date has focused on the fire-prone Mediterranean environments of the western U.S.A., Western Australia and South Africa. These environments are among the richest floristic regions in the world, and require ecological understanding in order to be managed properly. This includes knowledge of that role that smoke plays in these ecosystems. Ecology of Plant Derived Smoke presents accounts of 1355 species of plants, from 120 families, whose seed have been tested for their response to aerosol smoke, smoke water, and plant-derived smoke. Each account includes a short summary of research findings, along with any other relevant information. Ecology of Plant-Derived Smoke is a comprehensive resource for ecologists seeking to understand the properties of smoke as they relate to ecosystems.

Discusses how plant-derived smoke functions as a tool for promoting seed germination and growth, with 1355 species accounts.

Focussing on the ways in which cannabis has been demonized, sacralized and normalized, Christopher Partridge analyses the complex and often difficult relationship Western societies have had with the plant since the nineteenth century. After an introduction to cannabis and its uses, the book discusses how and why it was constructed as a profane influence and a marker of deviance. It then examines the emergence of medicinal cannabis, showing how this has contributed to its normalization and even its sacralization. Finally, there is a discussion of sacred cannabis, which looks at its use within modern occultism, Rastafari and several cannabis churches. Overall, the book provides a cultural history of cannabis in the modern world, which exposes the underlying reasons for the various and changing attitudes to this popular psychoactive substance.

Neuropathology of Drug Addictions and Substance Misuse, Volume 2: Stimulants, Club and Dissociative Drugs, Hallucinogens, Steroids, Inhalants and International Aspects is the second of three volumes in this informative series and offers a comprehensive examination of the adverse consequences of the most common drugs of abuse. Each volume serves to update the reader’s knowledge on the broader field of addiction as well as to deepen understanding of specific addictive substances. Volume 2 addresses stimulants, club and dissociative drugs, hallucinogens, and inhalants and solvents. Each section provides data on the general, molecular and cellular, and structural and functional neurological aspects of a given substance, with a focus on the adverse consequences of addictions. Research shows that the neuropathological features of one addiction are often applicable to those of others, and understanding these commonalties provides a platform for studying specific addictions in more depth and may ultimately lead researchers toward new modes of understanding, causation, prevention, and treatment. However, marshalling data on the complex relationships between addictions is difficult due to the myriad material and substances. Offers a modern approach to understanding the pathology of substances of abuse, offering an evidence-based ethos for understanding the neurology of addictions Fills an existing gap in the literature by serving as a “one-stop-shopping” synopsis of everything to do with the neuropathology of drugs of addiction and substance misuse Includes in each chapter: list of abbreviations, abstract, introduction, applications to other addictions and substance misuse, mini-dictionary of terms, summary points, 6+ figures and tables, and full references Offers coverage of preclinical, clinical, and population studies, from the cell to whole organs, and from the genome to whole body

This book provides for the first time a single comprehensive source of information on the analytical chemistry of nicotine and related alkaloids. The editors have brought together scientists from academia and the tobacco industry to describe the state-of-the-art of the chemistry and analytical methods for measurement of nicotine. Both the scope and detail of the book are impressive. Chapters describe the history, pharmacology and toxicology of nicotine, the biosynthesis of nicotine and other alkaloids in the tobacco plant, the general chemistry of nicotine and the analytical methodologies that have been used to measure nicotine and related alkaloids in biological specimens, in tobacco and pharmaceutical products and in tobacco smoke. There is also a comprehensive review of the chemistry and toxicology of nicotine-derived nitrosamines, an important class of tobacco carcinogens.