Medicinal Plants Studies: History, Challenges and Prospective

Abstract

The association of humans and animals with plants obviously originated with the beginning of life on earth, when plants supplied much of the shelter, oxygen, food and medicine needed by higher life forms. Overtime and with the beginning of societies, human learned to recognize and categorize plant materials suited for use in meeting the necessities of life. Of these necessities, the use of herbs and herbal extracts for their healing powers can be traced to earliest of myths, traditions and writings used to codify those plants that can ease pain and treat diseases. The evolution of these plant-based medicine systems, primarily based on plants within a local area, produced the well known traditional medicine systems, the Ayurvedic and Unani of the Indian subcontinent, the Chinese and Tibetan of other parts of Asia, the Native American of North America, the Amazonian of South America and several local systems within Africa.