[...] This book is primarily an album, but it is also a guide to finding herbs. It aims to give the reader the op- portunity not just to see, but to explore and love the little miracles of nature in the native flora around him. To introduce him to the profusion of incomparable beauty concealed in the Greek countryside, which must be respected and protected.
It would be remiss to omit any reference to the extremely interesting herbal properties of these plants. The indication (Diosc. ......) designates plants which are mentioned in Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica.
That said, this book is not a herbalist’s handbook on the use of plants to treat diseases. Deliberately, it describes the general properties of plants, not ways of preparing pharmaceutical formulas, dosages, or meth- ods of treatment.
We hope, however, that it will encourage the reader to delve more deeply into this lore, under the guidance of specialists (doctors, pharmacists), making it possible to exploit the beneficial effects that plants can have. Native flora is crucial for the balance of the ecosystems that have existed for thousands of years in perpetual interaction, and an invaluable natural treasure that we all must preserve. I invite you to an enjoyable photographic exploration of some native Greek flora.
Author’s Preface
