medicinal plants Flashcards
relationship between medicines and poisons
medicines “poison you well”
The types of herbal medicines
Infusions, Decoctions, Tinctures
Why do plants produce poisonous chemicals?
For survival (protection from herbivory and predation) and by accident
Allelopathy
Warfare with other plants
Why do plants produce poisonous chemicals by accident?
They don’t have an excretory system so compounds accumulate randomly
Primary poisonous plant families
Spurge Family, Rose, Potato
example of poison
Poison hemlock: Conium maculatum
3 examples of plant-based medicines and their uses
Foxglove: congestive heart failure, Fever bark tree: Malaria, Eucalyptus: cough suppressant
Why quinine plant changed world history
Quinine helped colonists to swarm into the Gold Coast, Nigeria and
other parts of west Africa
Issues surrounding the Ephedra plant
Ephedra= Ephedrine& Pseudoephedrine. Used as a decongestant and stimulant. was banned as OTC in 2006 due to pseudoephedrine being used to produce meth
How are modern herbals regulated?
They aren’t you can buy them at the grocery store
examples of common herbs and spices used medicinally
Thyme, garlic, mint
How were medicinal plants discovered?
By observation of sick animals and the bitterness taste
What is the Doctrine of Signatures
The belief that God has marked
everything he created with a sign for its
use
Examples of the doctrine of signatures
Ginseng, mandrake, Hepatica
