The book is a compilation of the one hundred most important medicinal plants of the country of Belize. A share of the profits from this book was donated to the healers and helps to support children’s programs in Belize.

Published in 1998, just two years after Don Elijio Panti’s passing, it is a result of nine years of research conducted during the Belize Ethnobotany Project, directed by Dr. Michael Balick of the New York Botanical Garden. It was taken from interviews with more than a dozen traditional healers from Belize of different cultural backgrounds. The major contributors were Don Elijio Panti, Hortence Robinson, Beatrice Waight, Miss Juana Shish and Thomas Green. Don Elijio was the most famous traditional healer/shaman of Belize. Miss Hortence was the renowned herbal-midwife of Ladyville in Belize District. Miss Beatrice was a traditional healer from Santa Familia in Cayo District. Mr. Thomas was a builder of river dorries and a bush-doctor from Cayo District. The others were traditional healers and midwives who participated in the Belize Ethnobotany Project from 1987-1996.

In 2012, Balick and Arvigo published the Spanish language version – Remedios de la Selva. We are grateful to Katherine Herrera for her valuable assistance with that project.