The Balkans are richer in flora than any other comparable territory in Europe. Bulgaria is a country with an extremely large floristic diversity, and for its relatively small area, the number of higher plants is about 4100 species. Every year, the country exports 15,000–17,000 tons of herbs to us. This became clear during the official presentation of our new encyclopedia “Medicinal Plants of Bulgaria”, which took place in the Prof. Marin Drinov” of the BAS. “The reason for the extraordinary diversity is the heterogeneous conditions of the environment – southern location and varied landscape, altitude from 0 to almost 3000 m and the influence of different biogeographic areas – Mediterranean, West Asian, steppe and alpine (in the higher mountains),” said Assoc. Dr. Ina Aneva, Scientific Secretary of the BAS in the “Biodiversity, Bioresources and Ecology” department and responsible editor of the encyclopedia. Our country remained almost unaffected by the last great glaciation, and according to the German scientists Kutzbach and Gueter, the average June temperatures during the Quaternary Pleistocene were only 5 degrees lower than modern ones. Therefore, a large number of relict species have survived in Bulgaria, as well as endemic plants – Pirin poppy, Rila primrose, Orpheus flower, Rhodope fir.
In the encyclopedia “Medicinal plants” more than 270 types of plants are described, which are well tolerated by the body and can be used over a longer period of time at home. The first part of the encyclopedia examines the most important biologically active substances in medicinal plants, the morphology of the individual parts of the plants in order to make them easier to recognize, and indicates how they are collected and stored. The alphabetical articles include a botanical description of the plants, including their synonyms used in different parts of Bulgaria, as well as their Latin names according to the latest edition of the European Pharmacopoeia. The encyclopedia has selected plants that do not contain poisonous or highly active substances. If any of them has a toxic effect, it is highlighted in red under what circumstances it is safe to use. The table “Effect of medicinal plants on the body and human metabolism” is a valuable aid, allowing the reader to easily navigate which plants can be used for a given disease. The dictionaries of botanical and medical terms also contain useful information. “Today, plants with pharmacological activity are increasingly applied in the prevention and treatment of many diseases, alone or as additional means to conventional therapy, thanks to the expanding scientific knowledge of their active principles and their beneficial effect on various pathological processes in the body,” explained Dr. Radka Yosifova, leading scientific editor of the publication.
“The interest in medicinal plants in the fast-paced and stressful world is growing more and more,” comments Victoria Lazova, director of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia Research Center at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. “The need for such publications, which include the latest scientific achievements in the field and unite modern science with natural remedies and recipes tested over the centuries, is increasingly urgent. Our new encyclopedia is the scientific answer to people’s search for herbs and their uses,” she added.
“The work on the preparation of the encyclopedia took us more than 2 years, as it was necessary to update the data on most medicinal plants,” explained Prof. Ilina Krasteva, Doctor of Sciences in Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry at the Medical University-Sofia and chief scientific editor of the encyclopedia.
“It is an honor for us that the next edition of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia is published with the Knigomania logo,” commented Natalia Petrova, editor-in-chief of the Knigomania publishing house and editor-in-chief of the encyclopedia. “Readers’ opinions about the previous two encyclopedias – “Encyclopedia Bulgaria” and “Holy Places of Bulgaria” – are very positive. I am convinced that this encyclopedia will have the same success”, she added.
