Kava: The Pacific Elixir: The Definitive Guide to Its Ethnobotany, History, and Chemistry• The most comprehensive book ever written on nature's most effective stress-relieving plant. • First paperback edition of the classic comprehensive text originally published by Yale University Press. This complete guide to kava summarizes the literature and research on a plant that is now considered comparable or superior to anti-stress prescription drugs, and describes its use in the religious, political, and economic life of the Pacific islands for centuries. Beyond its soporific qualities kava is also used throughout the the Pacific as an analgesic, a diuretic, and an anesthetic. There is even evidence suggesting it is effective in the treatment of asthma, tuberculosis, and venereal disease. Exhaustively researched, Kava: The Pacific Elixir offers an extensive survey of this amazing plant from the perspective of the horticulturist, the ethnobotanist, and the pharmacologist. |
Contents
Geographic Distribution | |
Dispersal of Cultivars | |
Origin of Piper methysticum | |
Active Principles and Their Effects | |
Cultivation Classification Preparation and Medicinal | |
The Cultural Significance and Social Uses of Kava | 22 |
Kava as a Cash Crop | 69 |
A World Drug? | 69 |
Appendix A Geographical Distribution of Past and Present Kava | 69 |
Appendix E Chemotypes Morphotypes and Zymotypes of Wild and Cultivated | 69 |
For further reading in Ethnobotany | 69 |
Books of Related Interest | 69 |
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Common terms and phrases
alcohol ancestors archipelago areas Baluan beverage botanical Brunton ceremony chemical chemotypes chewed kava clones coconut communication consumed crop cultivars cultivated cultural Cuzent dihydrokavain dihydromethysticin domesticated drink kava drinkers drug example exchange farmers Figure Fiji Fijian Futuna genetic green growing Hänsel Hawai'i Hawaiian Honolulu infused internodes isozyme Journal kava bowl kava circles kava consumption kava cultivars kava drinking kava origin myths kava plants kava preparation kava root kava rootstock kava's kavain kavalactones Kosrae Lapita Lebot and Cabalion Lebot and Lévesque Lindstrom linguistic Maewo Marquesas masticated medicinal Melanesia Micronesia morphological morphotypes nakamal northern Vanuatu observed Pacific Islands Papua New Guinea Pentecost physiological effects Piper methysticum Piper wichmannii Piperaceae Pohnpei Polynesian Port Vila produce psychoactive region religious resin ritual rootstock sakau Samoa Santo shell social Solomon Islands South Pacific species stems strainer stump Tahiti Tanna Tikopia Titcomb Tonga traditional Vanuatu village wild yangonin zymotype