It is common knowledge that there is a tug of war between people who believe that only conventional medicine works for sicknesses, and those who believe that plants are better for healing. This is a controversy that is likely to linger for a very long time to come. There are folks like me, who will utilize one or the other, depending on the situation. It is strange that there should even be any controversy about the usefulness of plants as medicine because the foundation of medicine is actually plants. To people who are rooted somewhat in indigenous communities in various parts of the world, it is second nature to try plants for ailments first. For people who grew up in cities, talking of herbal remedies is alien to a large proportion of folks. In most rural areas of Africa, India and Asia, plants still remain the primary source of healing. The range of ailments plants are useful for is limited only by the available knowledge of the individual or group of people.
For one thing, if any plant is at all edible, it will be a useful for health purposes in one way or another, since plants contain healing nutrients just by their very nature. Basically, they contain chlorophyll, carotenoids and a lot of other materials that promote health by supplying essential nutrients. Specifically, plants are naturally endowed with specific chemicals which target different ailments. It is funny that even animals know this specifically. It is not clear how they do, but they certainly do. Animals have been known to go out of their ways to eat plants they normally would not eat except when they have certain ailments. A scientist once observed a sick chimp in Africa to eat a plant called bitter-leaf when sick, and the same scientist reported improved health in this animal shortly afterward. I have always been amazed by the above account. How do they know to eat a healing plant when sick? I can only guess that these animals communicate and may even have some oral traditions by which they pass these pieces of "medical" information from generation to generation. Who know?
Back to us humans. I am amazed that this debate even exists at all, judging from the variety of so-called conventional pills which are actually extracted from plants. Many of them have names which are linked the plant source! Some of the plants contain so much of these active medicinal materials that their scientific names reflect the chemicals. It is an open secret that one of the most popular analgesics of all times, namely aspirin, comes from the bark of a type of willow tree. There are hundreds of other examples. Morphine is an analgesic derived from the poppy plant Papaver somniferum, quinine, a drug previously popular (and still in limited use for malaria) is from Cinchona ledgeriana or quinine tree. Santonin, which is used as a worm expeller, specifically roundworms such as Ascaris, is a product of Wormwood, Artemisia maritma. Thymol is a drug applied to kill fungi on the skin surface, and it is derived from the Thyme plant, Thymus vulgaris.
Our focus above has been on the more common plants and medicines which are more commonly known, to avoid ambiguity. However, the list goes on and on. The funny thing is that many people use plants directly on a daily basis as drugs, but will not recognize their use for healing purposes. If you drink tea or coffee at all, then you are using the caffeine in Coffee or Tea plant to keep yourself stimulated. Now, nobody gets prescribed coffee by his doctor, but we get our coffee fix anyway. On the flip side, many "herbal tea" enthusiasts use chamomile to induce some sleep, and other sedatives abound in the plant world. Their products are even used in concentrated forms in the hospital. Dosage seems to be one of the stronger points of those who campaign against plants' medicinal products. Overdosing, or taking under doses of the plant product could be an argument against using plant materials. A full knowledge of how to use plants is important to using them. In fact, overdosing on a plant product is not common, since the amount of the active ingredient is such that a sick person will have to take a humongous amount of the plant material to overdose. We need to note though, that some medicinal plants double as medicine and poison, depending on the amount taken in.
When I think of it, I have a feeling that my garden is one huge medicine cabinet, I only need to know which one works for what, and how to apply them. Next time you look out of your window and you see a plant such as Yarrow, think that you are looking at another potent medicine, not to talk of Peppermint or Spearmint. When people talk of an incurable disease, it is just because they do not know which plant to turn for healing!
For one thing, if any plant is at all edible, it will be a useful for health purposes in one way or another, since plants contain healing nutrients just by their very nature. Basically, they contain chlorophyll, carotenoids and a lot of other materials that promote health by supplying essential nutrients. Specifically, plants are naturally endowed with specific chemicals which target different ailments. It is funny that even animals know this specifically. It is not clear how they do, but they certainly do. Animals have been known to go out of their ways to eat plants they normally would not eat except when they have certain ailments. A scientist once observed a sick chimp in Africa to eat a plant called bitter-leaf when sick, and the same scientist reported improved health in this animal shortly afterward. I have always been amazed by the above account. How do they know to eat a healing plant when sick? I can only guess that these animals communicate and may even have some oral traditions by which they pass these pieces of "medical" information from generation to generation. Who know?
Back to us humans. I am amazed that this debate even exists at all, judging from the variety of so-called conventional pills which are actually extracted from plants. Many of them have names which are linked the plant source! Some of the plants contain so much of these active medicinal materials that their scientific names reflect the chemicals. It is an open secret that one of the most popular analgesics of all times, namely aspirin, comes from the bark of a type of willow tree. There are hundreds of other examples. Morphine is an analgesic derived from the poppy plant Papaver somniferum, quinine, a drug previously popular (and still in limited use for malaria) is from Cinchona ledgeriana or quinine tree. Santonin, which is used as a worm expeller, specifically roundworms such as Ascaris, is a product of Wormwood, Artemisia maritma. Thymol is a drug applied to kill fungi on the skin surface, and it is derived from the Thyme plant, Thymus vulgaris.
Our focus above has been on the more common plants and medicines which are more commonly known, to avoid ambiguity. However, the list goes on and on. The funny thing is that many people use plants directly on a daily basis as drugs, but will not recognize their use for healing purposes. If you drink tea or coffee at all, then you are using the caffeine in Coffee or Tea plant to keep yourself stimulated. Now, nobody gets prescribed coffee by his doctor, but we get our coffee fix anyway. On the flip side, many "herbal tea" enthusiasts use chamomile to induce some sleep, and other sedatives abound in the plant world. Their products are even used in concentrated forms in the hospital. Dosage seems to be one of the stronger points of those who campaign against plants' medicinal products. Overdosing, or taking under doses of the plant product could be an argument against using plant materials. A full knowledge of how to use plants is important to using them. In fact, overdosing on a plant product is not common, since the amount of the active ingredient is such that a sick person will have to take a humongous amount of the plant material to overdose. We need to note though, that some medicinal plants double as medicine and poison, depending on the amount taken in.
When I think of it, I have a feeling that my garden is one huge medicine cabinet, I only need to know which one works for what, and how to apply them. Next time you look out of your window and you see a plant such as Yarrow, think that you are looking at another potent medicine, not to talk of Peppermint or Spearmint. When people talk of an incurable disease, it is just because they do not know which plant to turn for healing!
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