Ginger is is a perennial rhizome with annual stems that reach about three feet in height. The root is used in Asian and Indian cuisine frequently. Ginger also has widely known medicinal benefits. It is often used for motion sickness and stomach upset. Learn more about how to grow ginger here.
Gingko biloba is commonly referred to simply as gingko. It is one of the oldest species of trees that is still alive today. The tree produces fruit which is inedible. The dried leaves are used for medicinal purposes. Learn more about Gingko trees and their uses here. Hibiscus is an herb that comes from the petals of large shrubs or small trees that produce huge, colorful, trumpet-shaped flowers. Learn more about hibiscus benefits and how to grow hibiscus.
Horehound is a bitter perennial herb in the mint family with green and white leaves that is native to the UK and found all over Europe. Learn more about horehound. Horseradish is a bitter herb used as medicine during the Middle Ages and is a cruciferous plant. Learn more about horseradish.
Hyssop is a drought tolerant herb that likes full sun and sandy soil. It is used in cooking and herbal medicine. Learn more about hyssop. This flowering herb has purple and white petals and is also known as wild pansy. It has many medicinal uses. Learn more about Johnny Jump Up.
Laurel is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green leaves, in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean area and is used as bay leaf for seasoning in cooking. Learn more about laurel. Lavender is a bushy, flowering perennial herb with purple blooms growing from one to three feet tall. Learn more about lavender. Learn how to grow lavender. Lemon balm is a perennial herbaceous plant in the mint family.
It is used both as a culinary herb and medicinal herb. Learn more about lemon balm. Lemon verbena is a hard to grow, fragrant perennial herb with a lemon scent. Learn more about lemon verbena. Lemongrass is a tropical herb that grows in a grassy clump and has a lemon-like flavor.
Learn more about lemongrass. Licorice root is the root of an herb that is native to Europe and Asia. Learn more about the benefits of licorice and its use as an adaptogenic herb. Lovage is a tall, perennial herb native the UK and used as a culinary and medicinal herb. Learn more about lovage. Lungwort is a medicinal, flowering herb. Learn more about lungwort. Marjoram is a flowering herb with edible petals that is very similar to oregano.
Learn more about growing marjoram. Milk thistle is a medicinal herb known for its ability to help the liver. Learn more about milk thistle and more here. Learn how to grow mint and the health benefits of mint. Most people associate oregano with Italian and hispanic dishes, but actually, the herb originates in Northern Europe where it grows in the wild. Its scientific name is Origanum vulgare, and to the ancient Greeks, where it gets its name from the Greek words oros mountain and ganos joy.
Learn how to grow oregano and its health benefits. Parsley is a versatile herb that can be incorporated in many different kinds of dishes for a bit of added zest. Learn how to grow parsley. Thyme is an aromatic, perennial, evergreen herb with many culinary, medicinal, and ornamental uses. Learn more about growing thyme. Also spelled Tulasi or Thulasi, it has been used for thousands of years in Ayurvedic medicine to fight stress, for natural detoxification, and for general health improvement.
Learn more about Tulsi and why it is considered an adaptogenic herb. Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial herb that is in the same family as the herb ginger.
Like with ginger, the roots are consumed. Learn more about growing turmeric or the many uses of the herb. Valerian is a perennial herb. Its flowers are pink or white and can grow to nearly five feet tall.
The extract from Valerian flowers was used as a perfume but it is also used for medicinal purposes. Read more about Valerian herb. The bitter herb wormwood is a species of Artemisia, native to temperate regions of Europe and Northern Africa and is widely naturalized in Canada and the northern United States. It is grown as an ornamental plant and is used as an ingredient in the spirit absinthe.
They add that the lack of "chemistry" associated to their composition makes them safe. To give support to this assertion they invoke God as creator and perfection.
The statement below reflects this belief:. I think that God put here on the Earth is to heal the people This belief becomes dangerous since it is used as a marketing strategy to sell such herbs. This "natural marketing" can reinforce the carelessness of consumers about the potential adverse effects arising out of these herbs. The main reasons given for choosing herbal remedies was that they were safer than "drugstore's drugs.
The correct use is based on their own experience of using herbs. The big secret is to know how to use them herbs. This vendors' behaviour demonstrates that they believe in their own expertise and " deserve " the title by which they are known: doctors in herbs. Only one participant reported not using medicinal plants himself. According to him, medicinal plants are inefficient as medicines, and any poisoning effect would be extreme, since they are not as "clean" as conventional medicines.
This unique case is curious, since the interviewed subject satisfied the inclusion criteria of the study and demonstrated a large knowledge about the subject. Unlike most, this herb vendor considers his work as a "business" with the aggravating factor that, despite having a negative view of herbs, he sells them to the consumers without taking into consideration his perceptions of safety and efficacy of herbs.
The statement below reflects this behaviour. People want to buy, I also want to sell, and business is business". The interviewees also reported risks related to unscrupulous manufacturing and selling practices, yielding that traditional herbs might be replaced by toxic ones, resulting in loss of efficacy or unexpected effects.
They declared that common names of plants and herbal remedies may be outdated and variable depending on the geographic region, causing a lot of confusion. Since plants are not regulated, there is no guarantee that the herbal material used in preparation of the product is of good quality and correctly identified.
Moreover, dose-finding studies are not available for the majority of medicinal plants in use today. More information is also lacking in several areas relevant to safety. According to the interviewees, the only "guarantee" is their knowledge, observations and experiences throughout their lives that have enabled them to recognize the plant's narrow margin of safety and also the importance of dose; and for a successful treatment, their instructions must be followed. The interviewees reported that herb-herb interactions may be beneficial and does not represent harm to the customers.
According to them, herbs may be used either in their primary forms or combined into complex mixtures, and the correct association of two or more herbs may increase their therapeutic effects, because herbs " work better together ".
In fact, many herbal mixtures typically contain two or more medicinal plants, and it is difficult to discover which ingredient is the one responsible for the therapeutic effect, or whether it results from the combination of all of them.
Asian herbal mixtures typically contain about twice that amount Ernst, The herb-allopathic association has been assumed as positive only when the herb therapeutic effect would be to attenuate or to abolish synthetic drug side-effects. On the other hand, the interviewees do not encourage the use of medicinal herbs as a complementary treatment when both conventional and alternative treatments have the same purposes.
According to the interviewees, concomitant use of herbal and conventional drugs compromises the efficacy of conventional medicines by delaying their activity. Interviewees also considered the possibility of herb-drug interaction causing unexpected or harmful symptoms, because an herb component may cause either an increase or decrease in the amount of drug in the blood stream.
Contradictory to the herbal vendor's instructions, previous studies showed that the majority of people use medicinal herbs as a complement to conventional therapy, not as an alternative Eisenberg et al. Unlike conventional drug-drug interactions, which are usually familiar and predictable, herb-drug and herb-herb interactions are exceedingly difficult to anticipate. Since there is a lack of systematic data, together with a false perception of safety, there may be unrecognized problems related to the association between herbs and conventional drugs.
Cytochrome P CYP monooxygenases are probably the most important classes of enzymes in hepatic drug metabolism Liu et al. For example, St John's wort increases the activity of the CYP3A4 and may lead to a reduction in plasma concentration of a number of medicines, including cyclosporin, statins and hormonal contraceptives Novack, According to the interviewees, almost every medicine natural or not is contraindicated for pregnant women.
They consider pregnant women as particular cases, where even "light" herbs must be consumed in lesser doses. In addition to the abortifacient risks of several herbs, they suggested that certain herbs Table 1 are associated with embryotoxic or fetotoxic effects. They usually call these plants " women's friends and children's enemy ". Most surveys agree that women use more alternative medicine than men, and pregnant women felt more attracted to herbs because they are promoted as harmless and free of adverse effects Lapi et al.
One study showed that many herbal medicine products have been associated with risks to pregnant women and their babies Ernst, a. The interviewees reported that some herbs are very "strong" and must be consumed in lesser doses by children and the elderly; depending on the strength of the herb, in some cases it should never be prescribed for these populations. The quote below gives a vendors idea about this issue:. This same rule should also be applied to the elderly.
The situation can be worse when the elderly is using controlled medicine while is taking herbs. This association can cause interaction or the effect of synthetic drug can be decreased or interrupted". In fact, compared with adults, children and the elderly may be at particular risk of experiencing the adverse effects of herbal treatments.
The capacity of children and the elderly for detoxifying chemicals may be reduced, and they can experience a dangerous increase in the drug's plasma concentrations. Between and , the WHO Monitoring Centre received 8, case reports of adverse events associated with herbal medicines. About 7. Children are especially susceptible to the harmful effects of dosage variation due to their smaller size and lack of some important enzymes Ernst, b.
Since the present study is a qualitative one, the data showed are based on voluntary reports and not confirmed by physicians. Therefore, although the reported symptoms are certainly relevant, it is difficult to demonstrate the causal link to the medicinal herb consumed, as other explanations are also possible to assess. Furthermore, it was not possible to obtain an adequate identification of the plants related to the cases. Almost every plant in this study is commercialised in a dry, pulverised, or fragmented form, making it very hard to collect identifiable herbarium samples.
All the scientific names presented in this study were suggested based on the popular names and their use indications cited during the interviews. Thirteen interviewees reported 39 unexpected events that were possibly related to 21 species of medicinal herbs Table 2.
The most frequent species reported were "buchinha"- Luffa operculata L. These medicinal plants are also used as food, flavonoid, medicine or perfume and also in certain spiritual activities. Plants have been used for medicinal purposes long before prehistoric period. Ancient Unani manuscripts Egyptian papyrus and Chinese writings described the use of herbs. Evidence exist that Unani Hakims, Indian Vaids and European and Mediterranean cultures were using herbs for over years as medicine.
Indigenous cultures such as Rome, Egypt, Iran, Africa and America used herbs in their healing rituals, while other developed traditional medical systems such as Unani, Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine in which herbal therapies were used systematically. Traditional systems of medicine continue to be widely practised on many accounts. Population rise, inadequate supply of drugs, prohibitive cost of treatments, side effects of several synthetic drugs and development of resistance to currently used drugs for infectious diseases have led to increased emphasis on the use of plant materials as a source of medicines for a wide variety of human ailments.
Among ancient civilisations, India has been known to be rich repository of medicinal plants. The forest in India is the principal repository of large number of medicinal and aromatic plants, which are largely collected as raw materials for manufacture of drugs and perfumery products. Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Folk tribal medicines are the major systems of indigenous medicines.
Among these systems, Ayurveda and Unani Medicine are most developed and widely practised in India. Recently, WHO World Health Organization estimated that 80 percent of people worldwide rely on herbal medicines for some aspect of their primary health care needs.
According to WHO, around 21, plant species have the potential for being used as medicinal plants. As per data available over three-quarters of the world population relies mainly on plants and plant extracts for their health care needs.
Thus, the economic importance of medicinal plants is much more to countries such as India than to rest of the world. These countries provide two third of the plants used in modern system of medicine and the health care system of rural population depend on indigenous systems of medicine.
Treatment with medicinal plants is considered very safe as there is no or minimal side effects. These remedies are in sync with nature, which is the biggest advantage. The golden fact is that, use of herbal treatments is independent of any age groups and the sexes. The ancient scholars only believed that herbs are only solutions to cure a number of health related problems and diseases. They conducted thorough study about the same, experimented to arrive at accurate conclusions about the efficacy of different herbs that have medicinal value.
Most of the drugs, thus formulated, are free of side effects or reactions. It is also reported to stop dandruff and improve memory. Sage — Salvia officinalis — Sage is helpful for head pains, hoarseness and cough. It is one of the best known remedies for laryngitis, tonsillitis and sore throats. An infusion of the herb sweetened with honey is mildly laxative and stimulates menstrual flow.
Sorrel — Rumex acetosella or Rumex acetosa — The cooling leaves of sorrel are known to allay thirst and aid in fevers. These leaves also serve as a diuretic. Vervain — Verbena officinalis — Vervain is known to be a good remedy for coughs and colds. It aids against the wheezing and shortness of breath that comes with fevers. Wintergreen — Pyrola minor — Wintergreen is known for its cooling properties, flavoring everything from mouthwash to gum.
Medicinally, it can be used topically on wounds and internally to aid ulcers in the kidney and bladder. The plant contains a natural antiseptic. Woodruffe Sweet — Galium odoratum — Woodruff can be taken for its tranquilizing effects to treat insomnia. Used as an infusion, it can strengthen the stomach and removes obstructions from the colon. Yarrow — Achillea millefolium — Yarrow is used topically for wounds, cuts, and abrasions. An infusion of yarrow is known to speed recovery from sever bruising.
Yarrow flowers are used for various allergic mucus problems, including hay fever.
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