Botanical Drugs and Medicines

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Botanical Drugs and Medicines Since the dawn of man, plants have been used for medicinal (and sometimes recreational) purposes. Wild animals instinctively know which plants to consume when they are ill. Birds are also known to build their nests with bacteria-resistant plants in order to protect their young. One can easily assume then that early humans themselves instinctively knew of plants healing capabilities and as we developed so did our use of plants as medicines. Cave paintings dating as far back as 13,000-25,000 BC have been discovered depicting the use of plants as medicine. Today, many of our so-called “modern day” drugs have their origins in ancient medicine. Whether it be to cure our headaches or feed our bellies, plants have always been essential to mankind.
	Garlic – Long used by many cultures including Europeans and native Americans as an herbal medicine, it is nonetheless debated to this day as to whether or not garlic actually possesses any medicinal qualities. That being said, most of the debate seems to be over whether or not garlic actually reduces cholesterol. Garlic is also used, especially by the Cherokee, as a treatment for coughs and croup. It is also capable of possibly helping regulate blood sugar levels. During both WW1 and WW2, garlic was utilized as an antiseptic to prevent gangrene.
More recently, it has been used to treat intestinal parasites. It also makes an effective mouth-wash, however that figures deeply into garlic’s primary side effect, halitosis.
	Cannabis – As a fiber, the use of cannabis goes back at least 10,000 years to Taiwan. As an intoxicating drug, its use goes back at least 5000 years. Charred seeds were recently found in an ancient ritual brazier in Romania, and cannabis leaves and seeds have also found buried with a Chinese mummy. Controversy aside, marijuana has been proven to offer several beneficial properties, which has led to its legalization for medicinal purposes in many areas.
“Munchies” jokes aside, Cannabis is an established treatment for encouraging appetite in cancer patients. It is also utilized to help with nausea, weight-gain, neurogenic pain, and glaucoma.
	Thyme – Used since the Sumerians at least 7000 years ago, this herb contains between 20-55% thymol in its essential oil. “And what is thymol”, you're now asking? It’s the active ingredient in Listerine mouthwash. Thymol is an antiseptic. In fact, an easy antiseptic mouthwash can be created by simply boiling thyme in water then letting it cool. This same mouthwash can be consumed to treat coughs and bronchitis. Inhaling the steam can also assist curing respiratory infections.
Thyme was also used to medicate bandages until the discovery of modern antibiotics. Small wonder then why thyme has proven to be such an effective medicine since close to the dawn of man.
	Willow Bark – Hippocrates himself was one of the first physicians to preach the benefits of willow bark. Patients were advised to chew on the bark of willow trees to reduce fever and inflammation. The active ingredient in willow bark is salicin, which is then converted in the body into salicylic acid. At this point you're probably saying, “So what?” but bear with me. In the 1800’s, pharmacists created salicylic acid in a acetylated form known as acetylsalicylic acid (stay with me, here it comes).
Acetylsalicylic acid is more commonly known by its brand name, Aspirin. Strange how “chewing on tree bark” sounds like such hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo until we realize we’re essentially doing the same thing today, only in pill form.
	Cinnamon/Cassia – For millennia, cinnamon has been preached as a health food. Recently science has finally proven that their might actually be some merit to these claims. Cassia cinnamon has shown to have a significant effect on patients with type II diabetes, greatly reducing their fasting blood sugar levels while enhancing insulin sensitivity. Other uses for cinnamon include helping digestion, arthritis, and staving off the common cold.
Much of the medicinal properties come from cinnamon’s essential oil, which evaporates over time, so fresh ground is always better. It is also important to makes the distinction between cassia cinnamon and cinnamon proper as each have their own unique health benefits.
	Ma-Huang – First mentioned in a Chinese herbal book dating back as far as 2700 B.C., Ma-Huang is the shrub that introduced modern science to the drug ephedrine. Known as “Ephedra” in English, the plant has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for millennia to treat hay fever, asthma, as well as the common cold. The active ingredients in the plant are ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Ephedrine is banned as a dietary supplement in the United States, although its derivatives are still used as low blood pressure medication.
Ephedrine is also considered a performance enhancing drug, so is specifically banned from competitive sports. Pseudoephedrine, on the other hand, is a decongestant known by a much more common name, Sudafed.
	Honey – While not a plant, honey is partially made from plant materials, and let’s face it, if it weren't for the pollination performed by bees, many plants wouldn't even exist. For several thousand years, honey has been used as a topical medication for an assortment of ailments. Honey is antibacterial as well as an antiseptic, yet it wasn't until recently that modern science was able to chemically explain why. Wounds treated with honey therefore have an incredibly reduced chance of becoming infected.
Honey has also been used to successfully treat diabetic ulcers. Mixed with lemon juice and drunk slowly, it can be a very effective treatment for sore throats and laryngitis. Suffice to say, honey is actually a veritable wonder drug.
	Echinacea – “Echinacea” is often thought of as a single herb. Actually it is the genus of nine species of plant all of which are believed to be a potent fighter against the common cold. To this date, however, there is much debate as to whether or not Echinacea actually works, but the fact of the matter is that native Americans have indeed used Echinacea for medicinal purposes for centuries if not millennia. So suffice to say, there's likely something very beneficial found in these plants.
The only real debate should be what that benefit actually is. If one does choose to fight the common cold with echinacea then it should be taken at the first sign of cold symptoms (the sooner, the better), with subsequent doses every two to four hours until the symptoms have vanished. Gawo – This thorny tree, native to Africa and the middle east, grows up to 6 to 30 meters in height. It is drought resistant, produces useful wood, feed for livestock, and is crucial for bees as it blooms late in the rainy season when most other flowers are gone. Not only that, it’s medicinal. Gawo is often employed, even today, to treat respiratory infections, as well as malaria and fevers. It is also used to treat infection in farm animals, and its bark can be chewed to treat a toothache. In 2007 modern science finally began taking a great interest in this amazing tree. As new plants species are discovered, one can only imagine what may be cured tomorrow as we continue to realize the full potential of the flora of this world. Many believe that even such serious diseases as cancer and HIV may some day meet their match from an amazing plant.

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