Plants for Healthcare

From the reblog facility of Kew Gardens website:

I just found this story via twitter which reminded me of reports coming from Europe on the banning of the growing of medicinal herbs. Here is a post celebrating the heritage of traditional medicine whilst informing us of some important things worth knowing. If anyone has news on the current situation in Europe do send links if you have  moment. I'm sure I saved an email on this in recent months... but if you have up-to-date news it would be gratefully received!

Medicine

Plants are a vital part of healthcare. Over 80% of the world's people rely on traditional medicine, much of which is based on plant remedies. Traditional Chinese medicine alone uses over 5,000 plant species.

Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle)

In the developed world around a quarter of all prescriptions contain materials isolated from plants. Others, like aspirin, are synthesised copies of chemicals found naturally in plants, or are modified from the initial natural product.

The rose periwinkle of Madagascar (Catharanthus roseus, right) has yielded 2 drugs for the treatment of cancer: it is the source of alkaloids used to treat childhood leukaemia and Hodgkin's disease.

Medicinal plants are mostly harvested from the wild, which can put them under great pressure. In Europe alone, an estimated 150 medicinal plant species are at risk from over-harvesting.

Despite the high reliance on plants in medicine, less than 20% of the described plant species have been investigated for the presence of bioactive compounds. Many more medicines have yet to be developed from plant materials.

 

Acacia nilotica
acacia

There is another page on this ... go to the website for more.

Alocasia macrorrhizos
elephant ear taro

Aloe ferox
Cape aloes

Aloe vera
aloe vera

Camellia sinensis
tea

Castanea sativa
sweet chestnut

Chimonanthus praecox
wintersweet

Crinum woodrowii
Woodrow's crinum lily

Digitalis purpurea
common foxglove

Dioscorea strydomiana

Ginkgo biloba
maidenhair tree

Harpagophytum procumbens
devil's claw

Hoodia gordonii

Imperata cylindrica
alang-alang

Kigelia africana
sausage tree

Melaleuca alternifolia
tea tree

More info here:

Plant and Fungi uses

• Food
• Medicine
• Fibres
• Fuel
• Building materials
• Plant products
• Ecosystem services