NATIVE PLANTS AND HERBS OF MOUNT VERMION WITH REFERENCES IN DIOSCORIDES

''The depiction and investigation of Greek flora has been a matter of scientific research since ancient times. This volume is an attempt to present part of the native flora of Mount Vermion. The images it contains open new horizons, broadening our acquaintance with the world of plants and revealing the particular beauty that escapes a passing glance. It deals with plant species both familiar and little known, some of which are mentioned in local ethnobotany, plants sometimes neglected and unappreciated but o?ten with many useful properties, as I was taught by my father and grand-father.

The need to recognize them was the stimulus for this book. It started very simply during a walk in the mountainous region of Naoussa. My attention was attracted by a strange but beautiful plant (Asphodeline liburnica) that I happened across by the side of a rural road. I was excited by the photo I took, and continued to photograph other equally interesting plants growing a short distance away. The tremendous beauty I dis- covered in them kindled my interest. From a spectator I became an observer.

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.''