Medicinal plants history A Lecture By Mr Allah Dad Khan Former DG Agri Extension KPK , Visiting Professor Agriculture University Peshawar

4.  According to World Health Organization
(WHO), about
 70 percent of the world’s population
relies on plants for their primary health
care .
 35,000 to 70,000 species has been used
as Medicaments .
 14-28% of the 250,000 plants species
estimated to occur around the world .
 35-70% of all species used world-wide .
 In today’s global market, more than 50
major drugs originated from tropical
plants
 Flora of China and North America have
almost the same numbers of flowering
plants around 35,000 .
 However, traditional Chinese medicine
use 5000 of them, but Native Americans
used 2564 medicinal plant

5.  Healing with medicinal plants is as old as
mankind itself.
 The connection between man and his search for
drugs in nature dates from the far past, of which
there is ample evidence from various sources:
written documents, preserved monuments, and
even original plant medicines.
 Awareness of medicinal plants usage is a result
of the many years of struggles against illnesses
due to which man learned to pursue drugs in
barks, seeds, fruit bodies, and other parts of the
plants.

6.  Archaeology evidences shows
that Paleothic used Medicinal
plants 60000 years back.
 The oldest written evidence
of medicinal plants’ usage for
preparation of drugs has
been found on a Sumerian
clay slab from Nagpur,
approximately 5000 years
old.
 It comprised 12 recipes for
drug preparation referring to
over 250 various plants, some
of them alkaloid such as
poppy, henbane, and
mandrake.[

7.  "According to Chinese
legend, the emperor
Shen Nung (circa 2700
BC; also known as
Chen Nung)
[considered the
Father of Chinese
medicine] discovered
marijuana's healing
properties as well as
those of two other
mainstays of Chinese
herbal medicine,
ginseng and ephedra

8.  The Chinese book on
roots and grasses “Pen
T’Sao,” written by
Emperor Shen Nung
circa 2500 BC, treats
365 drugs (dried parts
of medicinal plants),
many of which are used
even nowadays such as
the following: Rhei
rhisoma,
camphor, Theae folium,
Podophyllum, the great
yellow gentian, ginseng,
jimson weed, cinnamon
bark, and ephedra

9.  The Ebers Papyrus,
written circa 1550 BC,
represents a collection
of 800 proscriptions
referring to 700 plant
species and drugs used
for therapy such as
pomegranate, castor oil
plant, aloe, senna,
garlic, onion, fig,
willow, coriander,
juniper, common
centaury, and cannabis
for inflammation etc

10.  "The use of cannabis
for purposes of
healing predates
recorded history.
The earliest written
reference is found
in the 15th century
BC Chinese
Pharmacopeia, the
Rh-Ya

11.  In Homer's epics The Iliad
and The Odysseys, created
circa 800 BC, 63 plant
species from the Minoan,
Mycenaean, and Egyptian
Assyrian pharmacotherapy
were referred to. Some of
them were given the
names after mythological
characters from these
epics; for instance,
Elecampane (Inula
helenium L. Asteraceae)
was named in honor of
Elena, who was the centre
of the Trojan War

12.  "The Venidad, one of the
volumes of the Zend-
Avesta, the ancient
Persian religious text
written around the
seventh century BC
purportedly by Zoroaster
(or Zarathustra), the
founder of Zoroastrianism,
and heavily influenced by
the Vedas,
mentions bhang and lists
cannabis as the most
important of 10,000
medicinal plants."
 Persian Prophet and
Philosopher Zoroaster

13.  Herodotus (500 BC) referred to
castor oil plant, Orpheus to the
fragrant hellebore and garlic, and
Pythagoras to the sea onion (Scilla
maritima), mustard, and cabbage.
The works of Hippocrates (459–370
BC) contain 300 medicinal plants
classified by physiological action:
Wormwood and common centaury
(Centaurium umbellatum Gilib)
were applied against fever; garlic
against intestine parasites; opium,
henbane, deadly nightshade, and
mandrake were used as narcotics;
fragrant hellebore and haselwort as
emetics; sea onion, celery, parsley,
asparagus, and garlic as diuretics;
oak and pomegranate as
adstringents

14.  The works of Hippocrates
(459–370 BC) contain 300
medicinal plants classified by
physiological action:
Wormwood and common
centaury (Centaurium
umbellatum Gilib) were
applied against fever; garlic
against intestine parasites;
opium, henbane, deadly
nightshade, and mandrake
were used as narcotics;
fragrant hellebore and
haselwort as emetics; sea
onion, celery, parsley,
asparagus, and garlic as
diuretics; oak and
pomegranate as adstringents

15.  Theophrast (371-287
BC) founded botanical
science with his books
“De Causis
Plantarium”— Plant
Etiology and “De
Historia Plantarium”—
Plant History. In the
books, he generated a
classification of more
than 500 medicinal
plants known at the
time.

16.  In his work “De re
medica” the
renowned medical
writer Celsus (25
BC–50 AD) quoted
approximately 250
medicinal plants
such as aloe,
henbane, flax,
poppy, pepper,
cinnamon, the star
gentian, cardamom,
false hellebore, etc

17.  In a compendium of drug
recipes compiled in 1 AD
[Pen Ts'ao Ching], based
on traditions from the
time of Shen Nung,
marijuana is depicted as
an ideogram [pictorial
symbol] of plants drying in
a shed. This ancient
text... recommends
marijuana for more than
100 ailments, including
gout, rheumatism,
malaria, and
absentmindedness.
 Chinese ideogram for
marijuana ("ma")

18.  In 65 A.D., Dioscorides, a Greek,
wrote his Materia
Medica (13.152.6). This was a
practical text dealing with the
medicinal use of more than 600
plants.
 In the second century, Galen
synthesized much of what has been
attributed to Hippocrates. To
further his understanding of bodily
functions, he performed animal
and even human dissections and
was able to demonstrate that the
arteries carried blood rather than
air.
 Galenic theories had great
longevity, prevailing in western
Europe until the sixteenth century.

19.  Pliny the Elder (23 AD-
79), a contemporary of
Dioscorides, who
travelled throughout
Germany and Spain,
wrote about
approximately 1000
medicinal plants in his
book “Historia
naturalis.” Pliny's and
Dioscorides’ works
incorporated all
knowledge of medicinal
plants at the time.


20.  In ancient history, the
most prominent writer
on plant drugs was
Dioscorides, “the father
of pharmacognosy,”
who, as a military
physician and
pharmacognosist of
Nero's Army, studied
medicinal plants
wherever he travelled
with the Roman Army.
Circa 77 AD he wrote
the work “De Materia
Medica.”

21.  The most
distinguished Roman
physician
(concurrently a
pharmacist), Galen
(131 AD–200),
compiled the first
list of drugs with
similar or identical
action (parallel
drugs), which are
interchangeable—
“De succedanus.

22.  Tea is first mentioned in
Chinese writing in 222 AD
as a substitute for wine,
and in a circa 350 AD
Chinese dictionary. By the
third century AD tea was
being advocated for its
properties as a healthy,
refreshing drink and the
benefits of tea drinking,
but it was not until the
Nobility of the Tang
Dynasty (618 AD - 906 AD)
made tea fashionable,
that tea became China's
national drink

23.  Charles the Great (742
AD–814), the founder of
the reputed medical
school in Salerno, in his
“Capitularies” ordered
which medicinal plants
were to be grown on
the state-owned lands.
Around 100 different
plants were quoted,
which have been used
till present days such as
sage, sea onion, iris,
mint, common
centaury, poppy, marsh
mallow, etc.

24.  Throughout the
Middle Ages
European
physicians
consulted the Arab
works “De Re
Medica” by John
Mesue (850 AD).

25.  “Canon Medicinae” by Avicen
 Abu ‘Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina is
better known in Europe by
the Latinized name
“Avicenna.” He is probably
the most significant
philosopher in the Islamic
tradition and arguably the
most influential philosopher
of the pre-modern era. Born
in Afshana near Bukhara in
Central Asia in about 980, he
is best known as a polymath,
as a physician whose major
work the Canon (al-Qanun
fi’l-Tibb) continued to be
taught as a medical textbook
in Europe and in the Islamic
worldna

26.  Andalusian Muslim physici
an and pharmacologist wh
o wrote an important book
on the history of
medicine. His works on
pharmacology were
frequently quoted by
physicians in Muslim Spain
during the 10th and 11th
centuries. Some of his
works were later studied
by Albertus Magnus,
like De secretis, but were
attributed to
a Latinized version of his
name, Gilgil

27.  known in Latin Europe
as Abenguefit, was a
pharmacologist and
physician
from Toledo. He was
the vizier of Al-
Mamun of Toledo. His
main work is Kitāb al-
adwiya al-
mufrada ( ‫األدوية‬ ‫كتاب‬
‫المفردة‬, translated
into Latin as De
medicamentis
simplicibus).[

28.  “Liber Magnae
Collectionis Simplicum
Alimentorum Et
Medicamentorum”
 Abu Muhammad
Abdallah Ibn Ahmad Ibn
al-Baitar Dhiya al-Din
al-Malaqi (known as Ibn
al-Baitar, circa 1197–
1248 AD) was an
Andalusian Arab
scientist, botanist,
pharmacist, and
physician. He was born
in Malaga, Spain, and
died in Damascus, Syria.

29.  Marco Polo's journeys
(1254-1324) in
tropical Asia, China,
and Persia.
 Marco Polo was born
in around 1254 into a
wealthy and
cosmopolitan
Venetian merchant
family. Polo's father
and uncle, Niccolò
and Maffeo Polo,
were jewel merchants

30.  Discovery of America
(1492), and Vasco De
Gama's journeys to
India (1498), resulted
in many medicinal
plants being brought
into Europe. Botanical
gardens emerged all
over Europe, and
attempts were made
for cultivation of
domestic medicinal
plants and of the ones
imported from the old
and the new world

31.  Paracelsus (1493-
1541) was one of the
proponents of
chemically prepared
drugs out of raw
plants and mineral
substances;
nonetheless, he was a
firm believer that the
collection of those
substances ought to
be astrologically
determined

32.  In 18th century, in his
work Species
Plantarium (1753),
Linnaeus (1707-1788)
provided a brief
description and
classification of the
species described
until then. "The
Species of Plants") is
a book byCarl
Linnaeus originally
published in 1753,.

33. Early 19th century was a turning point in the
knowledge and use of medicinal plants. The
discovery, substantiation, and isolation of
alkaloids from
1. Poppy (1806),
2. Ipecacuanha (1817).
3. Strychnos (1817).
4. Quinine (1820).
5. Pomegranate (1878).

34.  was an Indian physician
specialising in the field
of South Asian
traditionalUnani medici
ne as well as a Muslim
Nationalist, politician
and freedom fighter.
Through his founding of
the Tibbia College in
Delhi, he is credited
with the revival of
Unani medicine in early
20th century India

35.  (Urdu: ‫محمد‬ ‫حکیم‬
‫سعید‬;9 January 1920 –
17 October 1998, NI, PhD)
was a medical researcher,
scholar, philanthropist,
and a Governor of Sindh
Province, Pakistan from
1993 until 1996. Saeed
was one of Pakistan's most
prominent medical
researchers in the field of
Eastern medicines. He
established the Hamdard
Foundation in 1948, prior
to his settlement in
Pakistan.