Medicinal/Herbal Plants

Question 1

Define herb and medicinal plant

Answer 1

Herb: plant valued for extracts, medicine or flavours
Medicinal plant: plant with recognized medical use

Question 2

What is ethnobotany? Who first studied it?

Answer 2

The study of how people and plants interact/influence on culture.
John W. Harshberger

Question 3

Greek and Roman medicine:
Hippocrates (nickname?)
Dioscorides (Roman)

what did these guys do?
2 more notable guys?

Answer 3

Hippocrates: father of modern medicine, early user of herbal medicine
Dioscorides: wrote the first plant medicine encyclopedia basically

Also Aristotle and Theophrastus idk why they’re mentioned

Question 4

What book did discorides write? What was its significance? (3)

Answer 4

De materia medica, used by Greeks/romans. added to by arabs.
Described plants/preparation/uses/side effects
Standard medical reference for ~1500 years

Question 5

What 2 splits happened in the 18th century?

Answer 5

1. Split between herbal doctors and normal physicians
2. Split between herbalism and scientific botany

Question 6

Who first scientifically investigated a herbal remedy?
When were the first synthetic drugs made?

Answer 6

William withering (foxglove to treat dropsy)

~mid 19th century

Question 7

What happened in the 20th century (use of plant extracts?)

Answer 7

Decreased direct use of extracts, but synthetic drugs still largely plant-based.

Question 8

What role does herbal medicine still play today?

Answer 8

Still widely used, 75-90% of people in developing nations only form of medicine (more affordable)

Used all over in conjunction with western medicine.

Question 9

How is the erasure of rainforests and tribal cultures linked to herbal medicine? (2)

Answer 9

1. Destruction of rainforests may eliminate thousands of plant species with unknown medicinal benefits
2. Erosion of tribal cultures = erosion of herbal knowledge