This is an inventory of over 1,000 Zulu medicinal plants. A third of these are not mentioned in the last work of its kind - Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk's Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa, published in 1962. The inventory is based on a literature survey, dating from the late nineteenth century to the present.

It is augmented by data from Anthony Cunningham's investigation of the medicinal plant trade in KwaZulu-Natal, material gathered in interviews with Zulu and Xhosa healers, and a recent preliminary herbal history survey of hospital patients conducted by Anne Hutchings.

The work includes updated botanical names, synonyms, common English and Afrikaans names, an extensive list of Zulu names, data on the medicinal usage of the plants by the Zulu and other ethnic groups, known physiological effects, chemical compounds and biological properties. Although over 2,000 modern references are cited, comparatively few of the plants have yet been fully scientifically investigated.

To provide a context where patterns of usage can be easily observed, the plants have been arranged in phylogenetic order, following the generic numbering system used in the most South African herbaria.

A brief outline of family characteristic chemistry is included. Indications of bioactivity, pharmacological usage and potentially toxic principles within the genus are also given. An ailment-coded list of usage by the Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho, arranged alphabetically by family, is appended for easy reference.

The work should be of use to botanists, chemists, ethnopharmacologists, medical workers and anthropologists. Recent research indicates that Zulu traditional medicine is a working, adaptive and self-monitoring system, eminently worthy of further research. With the flora from which it comes, it is a heritage to be highly valued and conserved.