Medicinal plants in wetlands

Abstract

All human societies use plants as medicines. Many important medicines are derived from plants with a long history of traditional use, and new medicinal applications for plants as medicines continue to be discovered. Plants with known medicinal uses and properties occur in most habitats to which people have access. Most medicinal plants are wild-harvested rather than cultivated. Studies have shown some habitats to be richer in medicinal species than others. In terrestrial habitats, for example, secondary forests are richer in the plant secondary com- pounds useful in medicine than are primary forests. While animals, fungi, bacte- ria, and algae associated with wetlands are proving to be successful targets for discovery of new natural products with medicinal properties, some flowering plant taxa typical of wetlands have been valued as sources of medicine since ancient times.