Nature's Medicine Cabinet

medicine cabinet

Many plants, herbs and spices are used by humans across the world as medicines. It has been estimated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that approximately 75-80% of the world's population still use plant medicines instead of or as a complimentary method to synthetic medicines.

Plant Medicines

Since prehistoric times plants have played an important role in medicine, and through observation and experimentation we have learnt which plants can help promote health and well-being. Information on plant medicines has been handed down over the centuries, based on the traditional practices of the Europeans, Chinese, Egyptians, American Indians and other cultures.

Herbalism, also known as herbology or medicinal botany, is the traditional medical practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Although many plant medicines have not been scientifically verified, they are thought to cure a wide range of ailments from warts and boils to dandruff and loss of hair and even infertility. Among the most common traditional remedies used in Britain during the 1900's was the treatment for nettle stings and warts:

Broad Leaved Dock

'If you get stung by a nettle, take a dock leave (Rumex) scrunch it up and rub it on the sting to reduce pain and rash.'

'To treat a wart, rub the fury inside of a broad bean (Vicia faba) case on the wart.'

British flora consists of about 1,600 species of which over 400 have been documented as having medicinal properties. Museum collections of flowers and plants in a herbarium can provide a database of the medicinal benefits and dangers of a plant, as well as noting which part of the plant should be used, the season it should be harvested and to ensure accurate identification.

An Alternative to Man-Made Drugs

Those who believe in traditional plant remedies will often turn to them before using conventional medicines. For example, in Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Zambia, 60% of children with high fever resulting from malaria use herbal medicines at home as the first line of treatment.

The use of traditional plant medicines in Europe, North America and other industrialised countries is rapidly increasing. Many use herbal remedies as a complementary or alternative method to modern medicines. However, for many people in developing countries, using traditional remedies are a necessity because they either lack access to essential medicines or cannot afford the high costs of pharmaceutical drugs.

Many pharmaceutical drugs are in-fact made from plants or the properties of plants have inspired their development. For example, aspirin which is today synthesized inorganically was inspired in its development by the traditional use of the bark of willow Salix to treat fever. In some cases, chemicals are extracted from plants and used as chemical building-blocks which are then used as drugs.

Dangerous Effects

The use of plants can be a danger to human health, if inappropriately taken. Some plants are toxic and even deadly to humans, but most have been identified through trial and error over the last millennia. Examples of highly toxic herbs include poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) and deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), their risks known due to European history associated with sorcery.

In addition to human safety there is a risk that a growing herbal market might pose a threat to biodiversity through over harvesting, leading to the extinction of endangered species and the destruction of natural habitats and resources.

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Cures featured in this article should be used only with advice from a qualified medical herbalist. We hold no responsibility.