Pharmacogn Rev. 2012 Jan-Jun; 6(11): 1–5.
PMCID: PMC3358962
This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.
Abstract
Healing
with medicinal plants is as old as mankind itself. The connection
between man and his search for drugs in nature dates from the far past,
of which there is ample evidence from various sources: written
documents, preserved monuments, and even original plant medicines.
Awareness of medicinal plants usage is a result of the many years of
struggles against illnesses due to which man learned to pursue drugs in
barks, seeds, fruit bodies, and other parts of the plants. Contemporary
science has acknowledged their active action, and it has included in
modern pharmacotherapy a range of drugs of plant origin, known by
ancient civilizations and used throughout the millennia. The knowledge
of the development of ideas related to the usage of medicinal plants as
well as the evolution of awareness has increased the ability of
pharmacists and physicians to respond to the challenges that have
emerged with the spreading of professional services in facilitation of
man's life.
Keywords: History, medicinal plants, plant drugs, usage
INTRODUCTION
Ever
since ancient times, in search for rescue for their disease, the people
looked for drugs in nature. The beginnings of the medicinal plants’ use
were instinctive, as is the case with animals.[1]
In view of the fact that at the time there was not sufficient
information either concerning the reasons for the illnesses or
concerning which plant and how it could be utilized as a cure,
everything was based on experience. In time, the reasons for the usage
of specific medicinal plants for treatment of certain diseases were
being discovered; thus, the medicinal plants’ usage gradually abandoned
the empiric framework and became founded on explicatory facts. Until the
advent of iatrochemistry in 16th century, plants had been the source of
treatment and prophylaxis.[2]
Nonetheless, the decreasing efficacy of synthetic drugs and the
increasing contraindications of their usage make the usage of natural
drugs topical again.
HISTORICAL SOURCES RELEVANT FOR STUDY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS’ USE
The
oldest written evidence of medicinal plants’ usage for preparation of
drugs has been found on a Sumerian clay slab from Nagpur, approximately
5000 years old. It comprised 12 recipes for drug preparation referring
to over 250 various plants, some of them alkaloid such as poppy,
henbane, and mandrake.[2]
The
Chinese book on roots and grasses “Pen T’Sao,” written by Emperor Shen
Nung circa 2500 BC, treats 365 drugs (dried parts of medicinal plants),
many of which are used even nowadays such as the following: Rhei rhisoma, camphor, Theae folium, Podophyllum, the great yellow gentian, ginseng, jimson weed, cinnamon bark, and ephedra.[3,4]
The
Indian holy books Vedas mention treatment with plants, which are
abundant in that country. Numerous spice plants used even today
originate from India: nutmeg, pepper, clove, etc.[5]
The
Ebers Papyrus, written circa 1550 BC, represents a collection of 800
proscriptions referring to 700 plant species and drugs used for therapy
such as pomegranate, castor oil plant, aloe, senna, garlic, onion, fig,
willow, coriander, juniper, common centaury, etc.[6,7]
According
to data from the Bible and the holy Jewish book the Talmud, during
various rituals accompanying a treatment, aromatic plants were utilized
such as myrtle and incense.[8]
In
Homer's epics The Iliad and The Odysseys, created circa 800 BC, 63
plant species from the Minoan, Mycenaean, and Egyptian Assyrian
pharmacotherapy were referred to. Some of them were given the names
after mythological characters from these epics; for instance, Elecampane
(Inula helenium L. Asteraceae) was named in honor of Elena, who was the centre of the Trojan War. As regards the plants from the genus Artemisia, which were believed to restore strength and protect health, their name was derived from the Greek word artemis, meaning “healthy.”[9]
Herodotus (500 BC) referred to castor oil plant, Orpheus to the
fragrant hellebore and garlic, and Pythagoras to the sea onion (Scilla maritima),
mustard, and cabbage. The works of Hippocrates (459–370 BC) contain 300
medicinal plants classified by physiological action: Wormwood and
common centaury (Centaurium umbellatum Gilib) were applied
against fever; garlic against intestine parasites; opium, henbane,
deadly nightshade, and mandrake were used as narcotics; fragrant
hellebore and haselwort as emetics; sea onion, celery, parsley,
asparagus, and garlic as diuretics; oak and pomegranate as
adstringents.[10,11]
