The phenomenon of immigration has presented a challenge for health professionals, not only regarding communication problems, but also in relation to the traditional customs for the treatment of diseases prevalent in the countries of origin. A large percentage of immigrants to Spain come from the Maghreb, where the use of medicinal plants in folk medicine is common practice.

In the consultation, patients do not usually mention the consumption of these alternative remedies, either because they are considered innocuous or because they are hesitant to do so. Doctors, meanwhile, often fail to ask from lack of habit and because until now there has not been a verifiable source that outlines the proven characteristics of these types of natural therapies.

For this reason, the Esteve Foundation has published a Guide to the medicinal plants of the Maghreb, a book that not only lists the main medicinal plants in the popular culture of the Maghreb and their active principles, but also identifies each of these plant drugs with their different names, their equivalents in standard Arabic and Berber and their common names translated into the four official languages of Spain. All this has been done so that doctors can accurately identify the traditional remedy and assess whether the patient should or stop or continue with the natural treatment while taking into account possible adverse effects.

The guide contains 25 colour images of the most common medicinal plants used in the Maghreb, each containing a description, side effects, contraindications and known interactions with conventional medications. Produced by José Alfonso del Villar Ruiz de la Torre and Esther Melo Herráiz, this volume is one of the few scientifically verified publications that presents a reasoned critique of these popular remedies.