History of medicinal plants

Pre-History

The first doctors, or healers, were probably those members of society that
possessed an extensive knowledge of their local flora (i.e. all plants growing in a
particular region).
Today we call these people medicine men or shamans

- Bomoh = medicine man/healer/faith healer

- Dukun = healer/spiritual expert/shaman
Jampi/mantra = word/phrase capable of
creating transformation / spiritual
transformation
- Pawang = endowed with magic power
or diviner

- Mak bidan = midwife (maternity/child birth)

- Ahli nujum = astrologist

- Ali ugama = religious men/women (ustaz/ustazah) Al-Quran / Hadis

Evidence that these people were our first doctors comes from research by ethnobotanists
working with indigenous groups. e.g. the late Richard Evans Schultes and his student, Mark
Plotkin
Ancient History oldest known documentation of medicinal plants comes from the
Ancient Sumerians, although involved in mathematics and sciences, they attribute
human illness to supernatural sources; recorded plant remedies on a clay tablet dated at
~2500 B.C.
The Code of Hammurabi, written under the direction of the King of Babylon also
mentions use medicinal plants like henbane and licorice.

Hyoscyamus niger also known as stinking

nightshade or black henbane.

Family Solanaceae

Medicinal alkaloids - atropine, hyoscyamine,

and scopolamine - that can be purified for use
in pharmaceuticals.

Licorice - Glycyrrhiza glabra

Also known as "sweet root"
Contains a compound glycyrrhizin, which is 50
times sweeter than sugar

To treat a variety of illnesses, ranging from the

common cold to liver disease
Pen Tsao a pharmacopoeia, or book containing an official list of medicines, is
complied under the direction of Emperor Shen-nung of China ~ 2500 B.C. Desribes use
of 365 medicinal plants including opium, ephedra, hemp, and chaulmoogra.

Papaver somniferum

Hemp - varieties of
Ephedra sinica the Cannabis plant

Hydnocarpus wightiana

The oil from its seeds has been widely used in

Indian medicine and Chinese traditional
medicine for the treatment of leprosy
Ebers Papyrus dated ~ 1500 B.C. from Egypt documents preparation of 700
remedies made from such plants as mandrake, aloe, castor, and hemp

The Ebers Papyrus, also known as Papyrus

Ebers, is an Egyptian medical papyrus of herbal
knowledge.

Cyperus papyrus

Mandragora officinarum - mandrake

Aloe vera

Ricinus communis - castor oil plant

Rig Veda earliest Hindu text from Ancient India, dated ~ 1500 B.C. (at latest), verses
include mention of numerous medicinal plants including snakeroot (Rauwolfia
serpentina). Text provides foundation of Ayurveda, an Indian system of healing that
includes at least 1500 plant-derived medicines in its pharmacopoeia

Rauvolfia serpentina, or Indian

snakeroot or sarpagandha
Western Tradition of Medicinal Plants and the Roots of Pharmacology (i.e. the
science of drugs)

Hippocrates (460-377 B.C) considered the Father of Medicine (modern-day

physicians take Hippocratic oath), breaks with earlier tradition in his belief that human
illnesses have natural sources; particularly in his notion that illness is caused by an
imbalance of the four bodily humors

Theophrastus (371-287 B.C.) student of Plato And Aristotle, considered the Father of
Botany, wrote Historia Plantarum that included directions for the collection,
preparation, and use of 600 medicinal plant species
Dioscorides (1st century A.D.) Greek physician who works with Roman (Neros) army
writes De Materia Medica, a 5- volume pharmacopoeia, that includes 1000 simple
remedies prepared from 600 different plant species.

Although, it includes a lot of false information, it does document the use of willow
bark to relieve pain associated with gout.
Medieval Europe European Christianity discourages practice of medicine
based on rational science, replaces it with dogmatic explanations of medical
phenomena.

De Materia Medica remains standard medical text until Renaissance.

In other parts of world, however, progress in medicine is made.

e.g .Chinese update Pen Tsao

Arabs translate Greek texts and build hospitals in Baghdad

Avicenna (980-1037), Persian physician writes Canon of Medicine

Renaissance with overall renewal of intellectual activity in Europe in 15th
century and invention of the printing press, Age of Herbals begins.

Herbals are books that include illustrations of useful plants.

Authors of these herbals were predominantly German botanists who had spent
some time in monasteries:

Otto Brunfels (1464-1534), Hieronymus Bock (1498-1554). Leonard Fuchs (1501-

1566), and Valerius Cordus (1515-1544).
Pararcelsus (1493-1541) proponent of the Doctrine of Signatures

Medicinal use recognized by distinct "signatures" visible on the plant which

corresponded to human anatomy

- Red juice of bloodwort to treat blood disorders

- Lobed appearance of liverworts to aid the liver

Belief in this concept developed independently among different cultures

17th and 18th centuries waning use of herbals coincides with advance of
scientific method for testing hypotheses.

This led to a better understanding of the human physiology and therefore the
mechanisms by which medicines acted on the human body.

e.g William Withering English physician publishes his work on the treatment
of dropsy with foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) in 1775.

Dropsy is the retention of fluid in lungs, gut, and extremities caused by

congestive heart failure.

Congestive heart failure is caused by reduced force of heart contractions, which

causes stagnation of blood through veins, which, in turn, causes accumulation
of fluid. It is the active components in foxglove strengthen the force of heart
contractions by slowing contraction rates.
19th Century advancements in chemistry lead to isolation and extraction of
active components of medicinal plants.

e.g. salicin isolated from willow (Salix spp.) in1828 leads to development of
acetylsalicylic acid, or aspirin, a related compound with less side-effects, by Felix
Hoffman of the Bayer Company in 1898.
20th Century further scientific advancement leads to increased use of synthetic
drugs and decreased use of medicines derived from plants. e.g. development of
drugs by the rational drug design model.

25% of all prescription medicines contain plant chemicals and an even greater
proportion contains synthetic analogues of plant chemicals.

75% of the worlds human population depends on folk and herbal remedies as
medicine.