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Natural Herbs
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Any plant that is grown for culinary, medicinal, or in some
cases even spiritual value is called an herb. It is common
practice that, from an herb plant only the green and leafy
parts are used. The culinary usages are obviously different
from the medicinal uses, in fact, it is often the case that
the properties of culinary and medicinal herbs are entirely
different to be found in the same plant. For example, medicinal
herbs usually tend to be shrubs or woody plants.
Culinary herbs, on the other hand, are typically more leafy
and soft. Interestingly, the seeds, berries, bark, root,
or other parts of a herbal plant make great spices. These
plants also bear edible fruits or vegetables. Culinary herbs
are different from other vegetables in the sense that they
are not the primary objects to be cooked or consumed. Instead,
they are used to provide flavor when used as spices.
Botanical definitions Botanical science defines a herb as
a plant that does not produce a woody stem. It usually dies
in temperate climates. Death can be complete in case of
annual herbs or the herb can simply go back to its roots
in case of perennial herbs.
Examples of herbs include: bulbs, peonies, hosta, grasses,
and banana. The botanical term herbaceous means a plant
having the characteristic of a herb or being leaf-like in
color and texture. It's really a good idea to probe a little
deeper into the subject of herbal. What you learn may give
you the confidence you need to venture into new areas.
Herbalism Herbalism is also known as phytotherapy. It is
a very old folk medicine that is based on the use of plants
and plant extracts. Human beings have been looking for healing
powers in the vegetable kingdom for a long time. There are
innumerable types of indigenous plants that have been used
by people for centuries in the treatment of many ailments.
The history of such usage is long and well documented. Evidence
has been found that sixty thousand years ago the Neanderthals
living in present day Iraq used plants as medicines. Radiocarbon
dating of the Lascaux caves in France has revealed that
cave paintings dated between 13000-25000 BCE displays the
use of plants as healing agents.
It must be appreciated that our forefathers spent several
centuries slowly building upon the knowledge of their own
predecessors to arrive at proper medical conclusions. It
took many generations of trial and error to expand this
knowledge base.
The individuals who took upon themselves the task of following
this line of reasoning and medical discovery are whom we
today remember as "healers" or "Shaman". An interesting
aspect of plants is their seemingly infinite ability to
synthesize aromatic substances like phenols and tannins.
Plants also evolve alkaloids that serve as defense mechanisms
against predatory microorganisms, insects, and herbivores.
Plants and chemicals have a strong and historical relationship
going back to several hundred millions of years.
The chemical interactions in a plant's metabolism, offense,
and defense procedures is very complex. Human beings have
found that many herbs and species that are used in seasoning
of good often yielded useful medical compounds. In recent
years plants have once again come into the foreground as
the search for new drugs and dietary supplements have led
researchers back into the plant kingdom.
Pharmacologists, microbiologists, botanists, and natural
product chemists are literally going through the entire
roster of plant species with a fine toothed comb looking
for phytochemicals that could lead to the development of
cures for several types of diseases. Already there are many
drugs on the market that have been derived from plants.
Herbal treatment of diseases is nearly universal in all
non-industrialized societies.
Since they do not have the resources to set up pharmaceutical
industries and are quite likely to be too impoverished to
purchase modern day drugs, it should not be surprising that
they rely on plants that they can grown to fight off illness.
In western society, the use of herbal medicine can be contributed
to the cumulation of several traditions over a long stretch
of time, finally culminating at the end of the twentieth
century. Some of these influences are based on ancient Greek
and Rome, the Ayurvedic principles from India, and Chinese
herbal medicines. Some very common plant based pharmaceuticals
that have been used by western physicians include opium,
aspirin, digitalis, and quinine.
Background In any living organism, chemical reactions define
the metabolism rate and control normal metabolic activities.
Some of these chemicals are known as primary metabolites
(sugar and fat) and are found in nearly all plants. Chemicals
known as secondary metabolites are found in a limited number
of plants. The functions of secondary metabolites can be
very different.
They could be used to produce alkaloids (poisons) for defense
or to attract insects to enhance pollination. Most of the
therapeutic chemicals derived from plants as well plant-based
modern drugs rely on the secondary metabolite chemicals
in plants. A few examples are: inulin (roots of the plant
dahlias), quinine (from cinchona), morphine and codeine
(from poppy), and digoxin (from foxglove). The National
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has started
to fund clinical trials to improve the medical world's understanding
of herbal medicine. |
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