Special acknowledgement is due to Professors Norman R. Farnsworth, Harry H. S. Fong, and Gail B. Mahady of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, for drafting and revising the monographs.

WHO also acknowledges with thanks the members of the advisory group that met in Beijing, China, in 1994, to draw up a list of medicinal plants for which monographs should be prepared, the more than 100 experts who provided comments and advice on the draft texts, and those who participated in the WHO Consultation held in Munich, Germany, in 1996 to review the monographs (see Annex). Finally, WHO would like to thank the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization for their contributions and all those who submitted comments through the World Self-Medication Industry, a nongovernmental organization in official relations with WHO.