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131-711: Medicinal plants , also called medicinal herbs , have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection against insects , fungi , diseases , and herbivorous mammals . The earliest historical records of herbs are found from the Sumerian civilization, where hundreds of medicinal plants including opium are listed on clay tablets, c.  3000 BC . The Ebers Papyrus from ancient Egypt , c.  1550 BC , describes over 850 plant medicines. The Greek physician Dioscorides , who worked in

262-511: A granny cure ) is a treatment to cure a disease or ailment that employs certain spices, herbs , vegetables, or other common items. Home remedies may or may not have medicinal properties that treat or cure the disease or ailment in question, as they are typically passed along by laypersons (which has been facilitated in recent years by the Internet ). Many are merely used as a result of tradition or habit or because they are effective in inducing

393-524: A "Sumerian renaissance" in the past. Already, the region was becoming more Semitic than Sumerian, with the resurgence of the Akkadian-speaking Semites in Assyria and elsewhere, and the influx of waves of Semitic Martu ( Amorites ), who founded several competing local powers in the south, including Isin , Larsa , Eshnunna and later, Babylonia. The last of these eventually came to briefly dominate

524-635: A century in the Third Dynasty of Ur at approximately 2100–2000 BC, but the Akkadian language also remained in use for some time. The Sumerians were entirely unknown during the early period of modern archeology. Jules Oppert was the first scholar to publish the word Sumer in a lecture on 17 January 1869. The first major excavations of Sumerian cities were in 1877 at Girsu by the French archeologist Ernest de Sarzec , in 1889 at Nippur by John Punnett Peters from

655-582: A difficult environment. Others have suggested a continuity of Sumerians, from the indigenous hunter-fisherfolk traditions, associated with the bifacial assemblages found on the Arabian littoral. Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians may have been the people living in the Persian Gulf region before it flooded at the end of the last Ice Age. In the early Sumerian period, the primitive pictograms suggest that There

786-477: A healthier labour force. However, development of plants or extracts having potential medicinal uses is blunted by weak scientific evidence, poor practices in the process of drug development , and insufficient financing. All plants produce chemical compounds which give them an evolutionary advantage, such as defending against herbivores or, in the example of salicylic acid , as a hormone in plant defenses. These phytochemicals have potential for use as drugs, and

917-494: A network called the International Regulatory Cooperation for Herbal Medicines to try to improve the quality of medical products made from medicinal plants and the claims made for them. In 2015, only around 20% of countries had well-functioning regulatory agencies, while 30% had none, and around half had limited regulatory capacity. In India, where Ayurveda has been practised for centuries, herbal remedies are

1048-429: A policy on traditional medicine in 1991, and since then has published guidelines for them, with a series of monographs on widely used herbal medicines. Medicinal plants may provide three main kinds of benefit: health benefits to the people who consume them as medicines; financial benefits to people who harvest, process, and distribute them for sale; and society-wide benefits, such as job opportunities, taxation income, and

1179-420: A pure chemical. Extraction can be practical when the compound in question is complex. Plant medicines are in wide use around the world. In most of the developing world, especially in rural areas, local traditional medicine , including herbalism, is the only source of health care for people, while in the developed world , alternative medicine including use of dietary supplements is marketed aggressively using

1310-584: A result, phytochemicals have frequently proven unsuitable as the lead substances in drug discovery . In the United States over the period 1999 to 2012, despite several hundred applications for new drug status , only two botanical drug candidates had sufficient evidence of medicinal value to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration . The pharmaceutical industry has remained interested in mining traditional uses of medicinal plants in its drug discovery efforts. Of

1441-570: A significant component of their healing traditions. The Romans had a rich tradition of herbal medicine, drawing upon knowledge inherited from the Greeks and expanding upon it. Notable works include those of Pedanius Dioscorides, whose "De Materia Medica" served as a comprehensive guide to medicinal plants and remained influential for centuries. Additionally, Pliny the Elder's "Naturalis Historia" contains valuable insights into Roman medical plant practices Among

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1572-475: A significant role in preserving and expanding herbal knowledge. Manuscripts like the "Tractatus de Herbis" from the 15th century depict French herbal remedies and their uses. Monasteries and convents served as centers of learning, where monks and nuns cultivated medicinal gardens. Likewise, in Italy, herbalism flourished with contribution Italian physicians like Matthaeus Platearius who compiled herbal manuscripts, such as

1703-401: A substance first discovered in a medicinal plant began with salicylic acid in 1853. Around the end of the 19th century, the mood of pharmacy turned against medicinal plants, as enzymes often modified the active ingredients when whole plants were dried, and alkaloids and glycosides purified from plant material started to be preferred. Drug discovery from plants continued to be important through

1834-410: A succession of medicinal plants, starting with morphine from the poppy in 1806, and soon followed by ipecacuanha and strychnos in 1817, quinine from the cinchona tree, and then many others. As chemistry progressed, additional classes of potentially active substances were discovered in plants. Commercial extraction of purified alkaloids including morphine began at Merck in 1826. Synthesis of

1965-466: Is a huge factor in the poaching of endangered species such as rhinos and elephants. Pangolins are threatened by poaching for their meat and scales, which are used in traditional medicine. They are the most trafficked mammals in the world. [REDACTED] Africa [REDACTED] Eurasia [REDACTED] North America [REDACTED] Oceania [REDACTED] South America Sumer Sumer ( / ˈ s uː m ər / )

2096-432: Is an antiseptic and was once used as a vermifuge (anti-worm medicine). Medicinal plants demand intensive management. Different species each require their own distinct conditions of cultivation. The World Health Organization recommends the use of rotation to minimise problems with pests and plant diseases. Cultivation may be traditional or may make use of conservation agriculture practices to maintain organic matter in

2227-579: Is considerable evidence concerning Sumerian music . Lyres and flutes were played, among the best-known examples being the Lyres of Ur . Sumerian culture was male-dominated and stratified. The Code of Ur-Nammu , the oldest such codification yet discovered, dating to the Ur III, reveals a glimpse at societal structure in late Sumerian law. Beneath the lu-gal ("great man" or king), all members of society belonged to one of two basic strata: The " lu " or free person, and

2358-554: Is first attested in proper names of the kings of Kish c.  2800 BC , preserved in later king lists. There are texts written entirely in Old Akkadian dating from c.  2500 BC . Use of Old Akkadian was at its peak during the rule of Sargon the Great ( c.  2334 –2279 BC), but even then most administrative tablets continued to be written in Sumerian, the language used by

2489-399: Is generally transmitted orally through a community, family and individuals until "collected". Within a given culture, elements of indigenous medicine knowledge may be diffusely known by many, or may be gathered and applied by those in a specific role of healer such as a shaman or midwife . Three factors legitimize the role of the healer – their own beliefs, the success of their actions and

2620-400: Is increasing in developed countries. This brings attendant risks of toxicity and other effects on human health, despite the safe image of herbal remedies. Herbal medicines have been in use since long before modern medicine existed; there was and often still is little or no knowledge of the pharmacological basis of their actions, if any, or of their safety. The World Health Organization formulated

2751-407: Is little break in historical continuity between the pre- and post-Sargon periods, and that too much emphasis has been placed on the perception of a "Semitic vs. Sumerian" conflict. It is certain that Akkadian was also briefly imposed on neighboring parts of Elam that were previously conquered, by Sargon. c. 2193–2119 BC (middle chronology) c.  2200 –2110 BC (middle chronology) Following

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2882-551: Is made from plant materials, such as bark, leaves and seeds, although animal products may be used as well. A major component of traditional medicine is herbal medicine , which is the use of natural plant substances to treat or prevent illness. American Native and Alaska Native medicine are traditional forms of healing that have been around for thousands of years. There are many ethnobotany plants involved in traditional medicine for Native Americans and some are still used today. When it comes to Native American traditional medicine,

3013-516: Is marked by a distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf . The oldest evidence for occupation comes from Tell el-'Oueili , but, given that environmental conditions in southern Mesopotamia were favourable to human occupation well before the Ubaid period, it is likely that older sites exist but have not yet been found. It appears that this culture

3144-404: Is most clearly seen at Tell el-'Oueili near Larsa , excavated by the French in the 1980s, where eight levels yielded pre-Ubaid pottery resembling Samarran ware. According to this theory, farming peoples spread down into southern Mesopotamia because they had developed a temple-centered social organization for mobilizing labor and technology for water control, enabling them to survive and prosper in

3275-446: Is needed to ascertain the efficacy and safety" of such practices and medicinal plants used by traditional medicine systems. Its "Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014–2023" said that the WHO would "support Member States in developing proactive policies and implementing action plans that will strengthen the role traditional medicine plays in keeping populations healthy." In the written record,

3406-587: Is no reason to presume that because a product comes from nature it must be safe: the existence of powerful natural poisons like atropine and nicotine shows this to be untrue. Further, the high standards applied to conventional medicines do not always apply to plant medicines, and dose can vary widely depending on the growth conditions of plants: older plants may be much more toxic than young ones, for instance. Plant extracts may interact with conventional drugs, both because they may provide an increased dose of similar compounds, and because some phytochemicals interfere with

3537-539: Is often assumed that because supposed medicines are natural that they are safe, but numerous precautions are associated with using herbal remedies. Endangered animals, such as the slow loris , are sometimes killed to make traditional medicines. Shark fins have also been used in traditional medicine, and although their effectiveness has not been proven, it is hurting shark populations and their ecosystem. The illegal ivory trade can partially be traced back to buyers of traditional Chinese medicine . Demand for ivory

3668-640: Is the earliest known civilization , located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq ), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. Like nearby Elam , it is one of the cradles of civilization , along with Egypt , the Indus Valley , the Erligang culture of the Yellow River valley, Caral-Supe , and Mesoamerica . Living along

3799-527: The Akkadian name for the "Sumerians", the ancient non- Semitic -speaking inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia . In their inscriptions, the Sumerians called their land "Kengir", the "Country of the noble lords" ( Sumerian : 𒆠 𒂗 𒄀 , romanized:  ki-en-gi(-r) , lit.   ''country" + "lords" + "noble''), and their language "Emegir" ( Sumerian : 𒅴𒂠 , romanized:  eme-g̃ir or 𒅴𒄀 eme-gi 15 ). The origin of

3930-682: The Atharva Veda , the Rig Veda and the Sushruta Samhita has used hundreds of herbs and spices, such as turmeric , which contains curcumin . The Chinese pharmacopoeia , the Shennong Ben Cao Jing records plant medicines such as chaulmoogra for leprosy, ephedra , and hemp . This was expanded in the Tang dynasty Yaoxing Lun . In the fourth century BC, Aristotle 's pupil Theophrastus wrote

4061-521: The Early Middle Ages , Benedictine monasteries preserved medical knowledge in Europe , translating and copying classical texts and maintaining herb gardens . Hildegard of Bingen wrote Causae et Curae ("Causes and Cures") on medicine. In France, herbalism thrived alongside the practice of medieval medicine, which combined elements of Ancient Greek and Roman traditions. Catholic monastic orders played

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4192-565: The Middle East and were responsible for the spread of farming in the Middle East. However, contrary evidence strongly suggests that the first farming originated in the Fertile Crescent . Although not specifically discussing Sumerians, Lazaridis et al. 2016 have suggested a partial North African origin for some pre-Semitic cultures of the Middle East, particularly Natufians , after testing

4323-520: The University of Pennsylvania between 1889 and 1900, and in Shuruppak by German archeologist Robert Koldewey in 1902–1903. Major publications of these finds were " Decouvertes en Chaldée par Ernest de Sarzec " by Léon Heuzey in 1884, " Les Inscriptions de Sumer et d'Akkad " by François Thureau-Dangin in 1905, and " Grundzüge der sumerischen Grammatik " on Sumerian grammar by Arno Poebel in 1923. In

4454-479: The aloe vera plant are used to treat skin disorders. Many European liqueurs or digestifs were originally sold as medicinal remedies. In Chinese folk medicine, medicinal congees (long-cooked rice soups with herbs), foods, and soups are part of treatment practices. Although 130 countries have regulations on folk medicines, there are risks associated with the use of them (i.e. zoonosis , mainly as some traditional medicines still use animal-based substances ). It

4585-546: The apothecary shops of Europe in the 1800s, where pharmacists provided local traditional medicines to customers, which included extracts like morphine, quinine, and strychnine. Therapeutically important drugs like camptothecin (from Camptotheca acuminata , used in traditional Chinese medicine) and taxol (from the Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia ) were derived from medicinal plants. The Vinca alkaloids vincristine and vinblastine , used as anti-cancer drugs, were discovered in

4716-549: The archaeological record shows clear uninterrupted cultural continuity from the time of the early Ubaid period (5300–4700 BC C-14 ) settlements in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerian people who settled here, farmed the lands in this region that were made fertile by silt deposited by the Tigris and the Euphrates . Some archaeologists have speculated that the original speakers of ancient Sumerian may have been farmers, who moved down from

4847-939: The healing modalities, ideas of body physiology and health preservation known to some in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture having prior experience. Many countries have practices described as folk medicine which may coexist with formalized, science-based, and institutionalized systems of medical practice represented by conventional medicine . Examples of folk medicine traditions are traditional Chinese medicine , Iranian traditional medicine , traditional Korean medicine , Arabic indigenous medicine , Uyghur traditional medicine, Japanese Kampō medicine, traditional Aboriginal bush medicine, Native Hawaiian Lāʻau lapaʻau , Curanderismo norteño, and Georgian folk medicine , among others. Generally, bush medicine used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia

4978-546: The placebo effect . One of the more popular examples of a home remedy is the use of chicken soup as an aid in treating respiratory infections such as a cold or mild flu . Other examples of home remedies include duct tape to help with setting broken bones; duct tape or superglue to treat plantar warts ; and Kogel mogel to treat sore throat. In earlier times, mothers were entrusted with all but serious remedies. Historic cookbooks are frequently full of remedies for dyspepsia , fevers, and female complaints. Components of

5109-415: The " Dynasty of Isin " in the Sumerian king list, ending with the rise of Babylonia under Hammurabi c. 1800 BC. Later rulers who dominated Assyria and Babylonia occasionally assumed the old Sargonic title "King of Sumer and Akkad", such as Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria after c. 1225 BC. Uruk, one of Sumer's largest cities, has been estimated to have had a population of 50,000–80,000 at its height. Given

5240-523: The "Circa Instans," which served as practical guides for herbal remedies. In the Iberian Peninsula, the regions of the North remained independent during the period of Islamic occupation, and retained their traditional and indigenous medical practices. Galicia and Asturias, possessed a rich herbal heritage shaped by its Celtic and Roman influences. The Galician people were known for their strong connection to

5371-576: The 1073 small-molecule drugs approved in the period 1981 to 2010, over half were either directly derived from or inspired by natural substances. Among cancer treatments, of 185 small-molecule drugs approved in the period from 1981 to 2019, 65% were derived from or inspired by natural substances. Plant medicines can cause adverse effects and even death, whether by side-effects of their active substances, by adulteration or contamination, by overdose, or by inappropriate prescription. Many such effects are known, while others remain to be explored scientifically. There

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5502-505: The 1950s from the Madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus . Hundreds of compounds have been identified using ethnobotany , investigating plants used by indigenous peoples for possible medical applications. Some important phytochemicals, including curcumin , epigallocatechin gallate , genistein and resveratrol are pan-assay interference compounds , meaning that in vitro studies of their activity often provide unreliable data. As

5633-447: The 19th and into the 20th century, with some plant medicines forming the basis for modern pharmacology. The prevalence of folk medicine in certain areas of the world varies according to cultural norms. Some modern medicine is based on plant phytochemicals that had been used in folk medicine. Researchers state that many of the alternative treatments are "statistically indistinguishable from placebo treatments ". Indigenous medicine

5764-706: The 1st millennium BC. The first Chinese herbal book was the Shennong Bencaojing , compiled during the Han dynasty but dating back to a much earlier date, which was later augmented as the Yaoxing Lun ( Treatise on the Nature of Medicinal Herbs ) during the Tang dynasty . Early recognised Greek compilers of existing and current herbal knowledge include Pythagoras and his followers , Hippocrates , Aristotle , Theophrastus , Dioscorides and Galen . Roman sources included Pliny

5895-399: The 20th century and into the 21st, with important anti-cancer drugs from yew and Madagascar periwinkle . Medicinal plants are used with the intention of maintaining health, to be administered for a specific condition, or both, whether in modern medicine or in traditional medicine . The Food and Agriculture Organization estimated in 2002 that over 50,000 medicinal plants are used across

6026-435: The Akkadian and Ur III phases, there was a shift from the cultivation of wheat to the more salt-tolerant barley , but this was insufficient, and during the period from 2100 BC to 1700 BC, it is estimated that the population in this area declined by nearly three-fifths. This greatly upset the balance of power within the region, weakening the areas where Sumerian was spoken, and comparatively strengthening those where Akkadian

6157-641: The Anglo-Saxon codex Cotton Vitellius C.III . These early Greek and Roman compilations became the backbone of European medical theory and were translated by the Persian Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, 980–1037), the Persian Rhazes (Rāzi, 865–925) and the Jewish Maimonides . Some fossils have been used in traditional medicine since antiquity. Arabic indigenous medicine developed from the conflict between

6288-526: The Brazilian Amazon, assisted by researchers, have described 101 plant species used for traditional medicines. Drugs derived from plants including opiates, cocaine and cannabis have both medical and recreational uses . Different countries have at various times made use of illegal drugs , partly on the basis of the risks involved in taking psychoactive drugs . Plant medicines have often not been tested systematically, but have come into use informally over

6419-504: The COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the United States taking action to stop the deceptive marketing of herbal products to combat the virus. Where medicinal plants are harvested from the wild rather than cultivated, they are subject to both general and specific threats. General threats include climate change and habitat loss to development and agriculture. A specific threat is over-collection to meet rising demand for medicines. A case in point

6550-599: The Catalonia region of northeastern Spain, was a hub of cultural exchange during the Middle Ages, fostering the preservation and dissemination of medical knowledge. Catalan herbalists, known as "herbolarios," compiled manuscripts detailing the properties and uses of medicinal plants found in the region. The University of Barcelona, founded in 1450, played a pivotal role in advancing herbal medicine through its botanical gardens and academic pursuits. In Scotland and England, herbalism

6681-496: The Celtic peoples of ancient Europe, herbalism played a vital role in both medicine and spirituality. Druids, the religious leaders of the Celts, were reputed to possess deep knowledge of plants and their medicinal properties. Although written records are scarce, archaeological evidence, such as the discovery of medicinal plants at Celtic sites, provides insight into their herbal practices In

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6812-471: The Elder 's Natural History and Celsus 's De Medicina . Pedanius Dioscorides drew on and corrected earlier authors for his De Materia Medica , adding much new material; the work was translated into several languages, and Turkish , Arabic and Hebrew names were added to it over the centuries. Latin manuscripts of De Materia Medica were combined with a Latin herbal by Apuleius Platonicus ( Herbarium Apuleii Platonici ) and were incorporated into

6943-633: The European concepts of disease such as "warm", "cold", and "moist", but it is not clear that the Aztecs used these categories. Juan de Esteyneffer 's Florilegio medicinal de todas las enfermedas compiled European texts and added 35 Mexican plants. Martín de la Cruz wrote a herbal in Nahuatl which was translated into Latin by Juan Badiano as Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis or Codex Barberini, Latin 241 and given to King Carlos V of Spain in 1552. It

7074-672: The Islamic world, particularly in Baghdad and in Al-Andalus . Among many works on medicinal plants, Abulcasis (936–1013) of Cordoba wrote The Book of Simples , and Ibn al-Baitar (1197–1248) recorded hundreds of medicinal herbs such as Aconitum , nux vomica , and tamarind in his Corpus of Simples . Avicenna included many plants in his 1025 The Canon of Medicine . Abu-Rayhan Biruni , Ibn Zuhr , Peter of Spain , and John of St Amand wrote further pharmacopoeias . The Early Modern period saw

7205-543: The Nordic regions, including Scandinavia and parts of Germany, herbal medicine was also prevalent in ancient times. The Norse sagas and Eddic poetry often mention the use of herbs for healing purposes. Additionally, archaeological findings, such as the remains of medicinal plants in Viking-age graves, attest to the importance of herbal remedies in Nordic culture From ancient times to the present, Ayurvedic medicine as documented in

7336-624: The Old World and the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. Medicinal herbs arriving in the Americas included garlic, ginger, and turmeric; coffee, tobacco and coca travelled in the other direction. In Mexico, the sixteenth century Badianus Manuscript described medicinal plants available in Central America. The place of plants in medicine was radically altered in the 19th century by the application of chemical analysis . Alkaloids were isolated from

7467-959: The Roman army, documented over 1000 recipes for medicines using over 600 medicinal plants in De materia medica , c.  60 AD ; this formed the basis of pharmacopoeias for some 1500 years. Drug research sometimes makes use of ethnobotany to search for pharmacologically active substances, and this approach has yielded hundreds of useful compounds. These include the common drugs aspirin , digoxin , quinine , and opium . The compounds found in plants are diverse, with most in four biochemical classes: alkaloids , glycosides , polyphenols , and terpenes . Few of these are scientifically confirmed as medicines or used in conventional medicine. Medicinal plants are widely used as folk medicine in non-industrialized societies, mainly because they are readily available and cheaper than modern medicines. The annual global export value of

7598-520: The Sumerian king list whose name is known from any other legendary source is Etana , 13th king of the first dynasty of Kish . The earliest king authenticated through archaeological evidence is Enmebaragesi of Kish (Early Dynastic I), whose name is mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh —leading to the suggestion that Gilgamesh himself might have been a historical king of Uruk. As the Epic of Gilgamesh shows, this period

7729-421: The Sumerians is not known, but the people of Sumer referred to themselves as "Black-Headed Ones" or "Black-Headed People" ( Sumerian : 𒊕 𒈪 , romanized:  sag̃-gíg , lit.   ''head" + "black'', or 𒊕 𒈪 𒂵 , sag̃-gíg-ga , phonetically /saŋ ɡi ɡa/ , lit. "head" + "black" + relative marker). For example, the Sumerian king Shulgi described himself as "the king of

7860-746: The Sumerians’ sphere of influence (ordered from south to north): Apart from Mari, which lies full 330 kilometres (205 miles) north-west of Agade, but which is credited in the king list as having exercised kingship in the Early Dynastic II period, and Nagar, an outpost, these cities are all in the Euphrates-Tigris alluvial plain, south of Baghdad in what are now the Bābil , Diyala , Wāsit , Dhi Qar , Basra , Al-Muthannā and Al-Qādisiyyah governorates of Iraq . The Sumerian city-states rose to power during

7991-469: The Ubaid period to the Uruk period is marked by a gradual shift from painted pottery domestically produced on a slow wheel to a great variety of unpainted pottery mass-produced by specialists on fast wheels. The Uruk period is a continuation and an outgrowth of Ubaid with pottery being the main visible change. By the time of the Uruk period, c. 4100–2900 BC calibrated, the volume of trade goods transported along

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8122-500: The Uruk period coincided with the Piora oscillation , a dry period from c. 3200–2900 BC that marked the end of a long wetter, warmer climate period from about 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, called the Holocene climatic optimum . The dynastic period begins c. 2900 BC and was associated with a shift from the temple establishment headed by council of elders led by a priestly "En" (a male figure when it

8253-422: The Uruk period were probably theocratic and were most likely headed by a priest-king ( ensi ), assisted by a council of elders, including both men and women. It is quite possible that the later Sumerian pantheon was modeled upon this political structure. There was little evidence of organized warfare or professional soldiers during the Uruk period, and towns were generally unwalled. During this period Uruk became

8384-518: The astringent rind of the pomegranate , containing polyphenols called punicalagins , is used as a medicine, with no scientific proof of efficacy. Terpenes and terpenoids of many kinds are found in a variety of medicinal plants, and in resinous plants such as the conifers . They are strongly aromatic and serve to repel herbivores. Their scent makes them useful in essential oils , whether for perfumes such as rose and lavender , or for aromatherapy . Some have medicinal uses: for example, thymol

8515-621: The beliefs of the community. When the claims of indigenous medicine become rejected by a culture, generally three types of adherents still use it – those born and socialized in it who become permanent believers, temporary believers who turn to it in crisis times, and those who only believe in specific aspects, not in all of it. Traditional medicine may sometimes be considered as distinct from folk medicine, and considered to include formalized aspects of folk medicine. Under this definition folk medicine are longstanding remedies and practises passed on and practiced by lay people. Folk medicine consists of

8646-730: The body's systems that metabolise drugs in the liver including the cytochrome P450 system, making the drugs last longer in the body and have a cumulative effect. Plant medicines can be dangerous during pregnancy. Since plants may contain many different substances, plant extracts may have complex effects on the human body. Herbal medicine and dietary supplement products have been criticized as not having sufficient standards or scientific evidence to confirm their contents, safety, and presumed efficacy. Companies often make false claims about their herbal products promising health benefits that aren't backed by evidence to generate more sales. The market for dietary supplements and nutraceuticals grew by 5% during

8777-430: The canals and rivers of southern Mesopotamia facilitated the rise of many large, stratified , temple-centered cities, with populations of over 10,000 people, where centralized administrations employed specialized workers. It is fairly certain that it was during the Uruk period that Sumerian cities began to make use of slave labour captured from the hill country, and there is ample evidence for captured slaves as workers in

8908-409: The centuries. By 2007, clinical trials had demonstrated potentially useful activity in nearly 16% of herbal extracts; there was limited in vitro or in vivo evidence for roughly half the extracts; there was only phytochemical evidence for around 20%; 0.5% were allergenic or toxic; and some 12% had basically never been studied scientifically. Cancer Research UK caution that there is no reliable evidence for

9039-610: The claims of traditional medicine. As of 2015, most products made from medicinal plants had not been tested for their safety and efficacy, and products that were marketed in developed economies and provided in the undeveloped world by traditional healers were of uneven quality, sometimes containing dangerous contaminants. Traditional Chinese medicine makes use of a wide variety of plants, among other materials and techniques. Researchers from Kew Gardens found 104 species used for diabetes in Central America, of which seven had been identified in at least three separate studies. The Yanomami of

9170-414: The content and known pharmacological activity of these substances in medicinal plants is the scientific basis for their use in modern medicine, if scientifically confirmed. For instance, daffodils ( Narcissus ) contain nine groups of alkaloids including galantamine , licensed for use against Alzheimer's disease . The alkaloids are bitter-tasting and toxic, and concentrated in the parts of the plant such as

9301-699: The downfall of the Akkadian Empire at the hands of Gutians , another native Sumerian ruler, Gudea of Lagash, rose to local prominence and continued the practices of the Sargonic kings ' claims to divinity. The previous Lagash dynasty, Gudea and his descendants also promoted artistic development and left a large number of archaeological artifacts. Later, the Third Dynasty of Ur under Ur-Nammu and Shulgi (c. 2112–2004 BC, middle chronology), whose power extended as far as southern Assyria , has been erroneously called

9432-734: The earliest texts. Artifacts, and even colonies of this Uruk civilization have been found over a wide area—from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey , to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and as far east as western Iran . The Uruk period civilization, exported by Sumerian traders and colonists, like that found at Tell Brak , had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. The cities of Sumer could not maintain remote, long-distance colonies by military force. Sumerian cities during

9563-556: The effectiveness of herbal remedies for cancer. A 2012 phylogenetic study built a family tree down to genus level using 20,000 species to compare the medicinal plants of three regions, Nepal, New Zealand and the Cape of South Africa. It discovered that the species used traditionally to treat the same types of condition belonged to the same groups of plants in all three regions, giving a "strong phylogenetic signal". Since many plants that yield pharmaceutical drugs belong to just these groups, and

9694-466: The first empires known to history was that of Eannatum of Lagash, who annexed practically all of Sumer, including Kish, Uruk, Ur , and Larsa , and reduced to tribute the city-state of Umma , arch-rival of Lagash. In addition, his realm extended to parts of Elam and along the Persian Gulf . He seems to have used terror as a matter of policy. Eannatum's Stele of the Vultures depicts vultures pecking at

9825-532: The first state that successfully united larger parts of Mesopotamia in the 23rd century BC. After the Gutian period , the Ur III kingdom similarly united parts of northern and southern Mesopotamia. It ended in the face of Amorite incursions at the beginning of the second millennium BC. The Amorite "dynasty of Isin " persisted until c.  1700 BC , when Mesopotamia was united under Babylonian rule. The Ubaid period

9956-620: The first systematic botany text, Historia plantarum . In around 60 AD, the Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides , working for the Roman army, documented over 1000 recipes for medicines using over 600 medicinal plants in De materia medica . The book remained the authoritative reference on herbalism for over 1500 years, into the seventeenth century. During the Middle Ages, herbalism continued to flourish across Europe, with distinct traditions emerging in various regions, often influenced by cultural, religious, indigenous, and geographical factors. In

10087-523: The flourishing of illustrated herbals across Europe, starting with the 1526 Grete Herball . John Gerard wrote his famous The Herball or General History of Plants in 1597, based on Rembert Dodoens , and Nicholas Culpeper published his The English Physician Enlarged . Many new plant medicines arrived in Europe as products of Early Modern exploration and the resulting Columbian Exchange , in which livestock, crops and technologies were transferred between

10218-722: The four quarters, the pastor of the black-headed people". The Akkadians also called the Sumerians "black-headed people", or ṣalmat-qaqqadi , in the Semitic Akkadian language. The Akkadians, the East Semitic-speaking people who later conquered the Sumerian city-states , gave Sumer its main historical name, but the phonological development of the term šumerû is uncertain. Hebrew שִׁנְעָר Šinʿar , Egyptian Sngr , and Hittite Šanhar(a) , all referring to southern Mesopotamia, could be western variants of Sumer . Most historians have suggested that Sumer

10349-566: The genomes of Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture-bearers. Craniometric analysis has also suggested an affinity between Natufians and ancient North Africans. Some scholars associate the Sumerians with the Hurrians and Urartians , and suggest the Caucasus as their homeland. This is not generally accepted. Based on mentions of Dilmun as the "home city of the land of Sumer" in Sumerian legends and literature, other scholars have suggested

10480-451: The groups were independently used in three different world regions, the results were taken to mean 1) that these plant groups do have potential for medicinal efficacy, 2) that undefined pharmacological activity is associated with use in traditional medicine, and 3) that the use of a phylogenetic groups for possible plant medicines in one region may predict their use in the other regions. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been coordinating

10611-646: The head of a snake. Native Americans used foxglove herb as a treatment for an illness they referred to as dropsy or edema, which is fluid buildup typically in the lower legs, and its common cause is heart failure. In modern medicine, foxglove extract is still used under the name digitalis, and its purpose is to moderate the heart rate. Native Americans were successful with some medical practices, such as treating fevers, gastrointestinal conditions, skin rashes, setting bones, as well as birthing babies, and aiding mothers in healing. A study conducted within an IHS hospital that allows Navajo healers to visit patients found that

10742-473: The hospital had an 80 percent success rate in getting comatose patients back to consciousness, which is higher than the rate of present-day biomedical management hospitals. The plant family Asteraceae has been commonly selected for orthopedic aids and pulmonary aids, specifically the species Achillea and Artemisia . A study conducted amongst 14 different tribes within North America found that Asteraceae

10873-464: The idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language; they think the Sumerian language may originally have been that of the hunting and fishing peoples who lived in the marshland and the Eastern Arabia littoral region and were part of the Arabian bifacial culture. Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians lived along the coast of Eastern Arabia , today's Persian Gulf region, before it

11004-445: The ideas surrounding health and illness within the culture are virtually inseparable from the ideas of religion and spirituality. Healers within indigenous communities go by many names ranging from medicine man or woman to herbalist or even shaman and are considered spiritual or religious leaders within their respective tribes. When it comes to healing, tribal healers would look at a plant's characteristics to determine its efficacy for

11135-435: The land and nature and preserved botanical knowledge, with healers, known as "curandeiros" or "meigas," who relied on local plants for healing purposes The Asturian landscape, characterized by lush forests and mountainous terrain, provided a rich source of medicinal herbs used in traditional healing practices, with "yerbatos," who possessed extensive knowledge of local plants and their medicinal properties Barcelona, located in

11266-514: The late 4th millennium BC, Sumer was divided into many independent city-states , which were divided by canals and boundary stones. Each was centered on a temple dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city and ruled over by a priestly governor ( ensi ) or by a king ( lugal ) who was intimately tied to the city's religious rites. An incomplete list of cities that may have been visited, interacted and traded with, invaded, conquered, destroyed, occupied, colonized by and/or otherwise within

11397-490: The lines of evidence that Paleolithic peoples had knowledge of herbal medicine. For instance, a 60,000-year-old Neanderthal burial site, " Shanidar IV ", in northern Iraq has yielded large amounts of pollen from eight plant species, seven of which are used now as herbal remedies. Also, a mushroom was found in the personal effects of Ötzi the Iceman , whose body was frozen in the Ötztal Alps for more than 5,000 years. The mushroom

11528-627: The magic-based medicine of the Bedouins and the Arabic translations of the Hellenic and Ayurvedic medical traditions. Spanish medicine was influenced by the Arabs from 711 to 1492. Islamic physicians and Muslim botanists such as al-Dinawari and Ibn al-Baitar significantly expanded on the earlier knowledge of materia medica. The most famous Persian medical treatise was Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine , which

11659-460: The majority of what are often informal attempted treatments, not tested scientifically. The World Health Organization estimates, without reliable data, that some 80 percent of the world's population depends mainly on traditional medicine (including but not limited to plants); perhaps some two billion people are largely reliant on medicinal plants. The use of plant-based materials including herbal or natural health products with supposed health benefits,

11790-481: The marshlands, who may have been the ancestors of the Sumerians. Reliable historical records begin with Enmebaragesi ( Early Dynastic I ). The Sumerians progressively lost control to Semitic states from the northwest. Sumer was conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire around 2270 BC ( short chronology ), but Sumerian continued as a sacred language . Native Sumerian rule re-emerged for about

11921-429: The most urbanized city in the world, surpassing for the first time 50,000 inhabitants. The ancient Sumerian king list includes the early dynasties of several prominent cities from this period. The first set of names on the list is of kings said to have reigned before a major flood occurred. These early names may be fictional, and include some legendary and mythological figures, such as Alulim and Dumizid . The end of

12052-462: The north of Mesopotamia after perfecting irrigation agriculture there. The Ubaid period pottery of southern Mesopotamia has been connected via Choga Mami transitional ware, to the pottery of the Samarra period culture ( c.  5700 –4900 BC C-14 ) in the north, who were the first to practice a primitive form of irrigation agriculture along the middle Tigris River and its tributaries. The connection

12183-402: The north. Ecologically, the agricultural productivity of the Sumerian lands was being compromised as a result of rising salinity. Soil salinity in this region had been long recognized as a major problem. Poorly drained irrigated soils, in an arid climate with high levels of evaporation, led to the buildup of dissolved salts in the soil, eventually reducing agricultural yields severely. During

12314-584: The official pharmacopoeias of Europe. The Puritans took Gerard's work to the United States where it influenced American Indigenous medicine. Francisco Hernández , physician to Philip II of Spain spent the years 1571–1577 gathering information in Mexico and then wrote Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus , many versions of which have been published including one by Francisco Ximénez . Both Hernandez and Ximenez fitted Aztec ethnomedicinal information into

12445-547: The other cities in Sumer, and the large agricultural population, a rough estimate for Sumer's population might be 0.8 million to 1.5 million. The world population at this time has been estimated at 27 million. The Sumerians spoke a language isolate . A number of linguists have claimed to be able to detect a substrate language of unknown classification beneath Sumerian, because names of some of Sumer's major cities are not Sumerian, revealing influences of earlier inhabitants. However,

12576-415: The plant material in cold wine or distilled spirit to form a tincture . Traditional poultices were made by boiling medicinal plants, wrapping them in a cloth, and applying the resulting parcel externally to the affected part of the body. When modern medicine has identified a drug in a medicinal plant, commercial quantities of the drug may either be synthesised or extracted from plant material, yielding

12707-769: The population relies on traditional medicine for their primary health care needs. Traditional medicine is a form of alternative medicine . Practices known as traditional medicines include traditional European medicine , traditional Chinese medicine , traditional Korean medicine , traditional African medicine , Ayurveda , Siddha medicine , Unani , ancient Iranian medicine , traditional Iranian medicine , medieval Islamic medicine , Muti , Ifá and Rongoā . Scientific disciplines that study traditional medicine include herbalism , ethnomedicine , ethnobotany , and medical anthropology . The WHO notes, however, that "inappropriate use of traditional medicines or practices can have negative or dangerous effects" and that " further research

12838-514: The possibility that the Sumerians originated from Dilmun, which was theorized to be the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. In Sumerian mythology, Dilmun was also mentioned as the home of deities such as Enki . The status of Dilmun as the Sumerians’ ancestral homeland has not been established, but archaeologists have found evidence of civilization in Bahrain, namely the existence of Mesopotamian-style round disks. A prehistoric people who lived in

12969-461: The prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods. Sumerian written history reaches back to the 27th century BC and before, but the historical record remains obscure until the Early Dynastic III period, c.  23rd century BC , when the language of the written records becomes easier to decipher, which has allowed archaeologists to read contemporary records and inscriptions. The Akkadian Empire was

13100-450: The preparation of herbal medicines include decoction , powdering, and extraction with alcohol, in each case yielding a mixture of substances. Decoction involves crushing and then boiling the plant material in water to produce a liquid extract that can be taken orally or applied topically. Powdering involves drying the plant material and then crushing it to yield a powder that can be compressed into tablets . Alcohol extraction involves soaking

13231-524: The region before the Sumerians have been termed the " Proto-Euphrateans " or " Ubaidians ", and are theorized to have evolved from the Samarra culture of northern Mesopotamia. The Ubaidians, though never mentioned by the Sumerians themselves, are assumed by modern-day scholars to have been the first civilizing force in Sumer. They drained the marshes for agriculture , developed trade, and established industries, including weaving , leatherwork , metalwork , masonry , and pottery . Some scholars contest

13362-494: The responsibility of a government department, AYUSH , under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. WHO has set out a strategy for traditional medicines with four objectives: to integrate them as policy into national healthcare systems; to provide knowledge and guidance on their safety, efficacy, and quality; to increase their availability and affordability; and to promote their rational, therapeutically sound usage. WHO notes in

13493-433: The scribes. Gelb and Westenholz differentiate three stages of Old Akkadian: that of the pre-Sargonic era, that of the Akkadian empire, and that of the Ur III period that followed it. Akkadian and Sumerian coexisted as vernacular languages for about one thousand years, but by around 1800 BC, Sumerian was becoming more of a literary language familiar mainly only to scholars and scribes. Thorkild Jacobsen has argued that there

13624-654: The severed heads and other body parts of his enemies. His empire collapsed shortly after his death. Later, Lugal-zage-si , the priest-king of Umma, overthrew the primacy of the Lagash dynasty in the area, then conquered Uruk, making it his capital, and claimed an empire extending from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. He was the last ethnically Sumerian king before Sargon of Akkad . The Akkadian Empire dates to c.  2234 –2154 BC ( middle chronology ), founded by Sargon of Akkad . The Eastern Semitic Akkadian language

13755-483: The soil and to conserve water, for example with no-till farming systems. In many medicinal and aromatic plants, plant characteristics vary widely with soil type and cropping strategy, so care is required to obtain satisfactory yields. Medicinal plants are often tough and fibrous, requiring some form of preparation to make them convenient to administer. According to the Institute for Traditional Medicine, common methods for

13886-664: The south of Mesopotamia as the Babylonian Empire , just as the Old Assyrian Empire had already done in the north from the late 21st century BC. The Sumerian language continued as a sacerdotal language taught in schools in Babylonia and Assyria, much as Latin was used in the Medieval period, for as long as cuneiform was used. This period is generally taken to coincide with a major shift in population from southern Mesopotamia toward

14017-791: The specific threat of over-collection to meet market demand. Plants, including many now used as culinary herbs and spices , have been used as medicines, not necessarily effectively, from prehistoric times. Spices have been used partly to counter food spoilage bacteria, especially in hot climates, and especially in meat dishes that spoil more readily. Angiosperms ( flowering plants ) were the original source of most plant medicines. Human settlements are often surrounded by weeds used as herbal medicines , such as nettle , dandelion and chickweed . Humans were not alone in using herbs as medicines: some animals such as non-human primates , monarch butterflies and sheep ingest medicinal plants when they are ill. Plant samples from prehistoric burial sites are among

14148-813: The stem most likely to be eaten by herbivores; they may also protect against parasites . Modern knowledge of medicinal plants is being systematised in the Medicinal Plant Transcriptomics Database, which by 2011 provided a sequence reference for the transcriptome of some thirty species. Major classes of plant phytochemicals are described below, with examples of plants that contain them. Alkaloids are bitter-tasting chemicals, very widespread in nature, and often toxic, found in many medicinal plants. There are several classes with different modes of action as drugs, both recreational and pharmaceutical. Medicines of different classes include atropine , scopolamine , and hyoscyamine (all from nightshade ),

14279-403: The strategy that countries are experiencing seven challenges to such implementation, namely in developing and enforcing policy; in integration; in safety and quality, especially in assessment of products and qualification of practitioners; in controlling advertising; in research and development; in education and training; and in the sharing of information. The pharmaceutical industry has roots in

14410-569: The study of herbs dates back 5,000 years to the ancient Sumerians , who described well-established medicinal uses for plants. In Ancient Egyptian medicine , the Ebers papyrus from c. 1552 BC records a list of folk remedies and magical medical practices. The Old Testament also mentions herb use and cultivation in regards to Kashrut . Many herbs and minerals used in Ayurveda were described by ancient Indian herbalists such as Charaka and Sushruta during

14541-664: The thousands of types of plants with medicinal properties was estimated to be US$ 60 billion per year and growing at the rate of 6% per annum. In many countries, there is little regulation of traditional medicine, but the World Health Organization coordinates a network to encourage safe and rational use. The botanical herbal market has been criticized for being poorly regulated and containing placebo and pseudoscience products with no scientific research to support their medical claims. Medicinal plants face both general threats, such as climate change and habitat destruction , and

14672-677: The traditional medicine berberine (from plants such as Berberis and Mahonia ), caffeine ( Coffea ), cocaine ( Coca ), ephedrine ( Ephedra ), morphine ( opium poppy ), nicotine ( tobacco ), reserpine ( Rauvolfia serpentina ), quinidine and quinine ( Cinchona ), vincamine ( Vinca minor ), and vincristine ( Catharanthus roseus ). Anthraquinone glycosides are found in medicinal plants such as rhubarb , cascara , and Alexandrian senna . Plant-based laxatives made from such plants include senna , rhubarb and Aloe . The cardiac glycosides are powerful drugs from medicinal plants including foxglove and lily of

14803-406: The treatment of an illness. Specific plant characteristics such as plant shape, smell, color, and taste could aid in determining how the plant could be used as a remedy. The Meskwaki tribe found they could use the juice from Arum maculatum for snakebites. This was inferred from the milky appearance of the juice from the plant which is said to resemble snake venom, and the plant's shape resembled

14934-786: The valley . They include digoxin and digitoxin which support the beating of the heart, and act as diuretics . Polyphenols of several classes are widespread in plants, having diverse roles in defenses against plant diseases and predators. They include hormone-mimicking phytoestrogens and astringent tannins . Plants containing phytoestrogens have been administered for centuries for gynecological disorders, such as fertility, menstrual, and menopausal problems. Among these plants are Pueraria mirifica , kudzu , angelica , fennel , and anise . Many polyphenolic extracts, such as from grape seeds , olives or maritime pine bark , are sold as dietary supplements and cosmetics without proof or legal health claims for medicinal effects. In Ayurveda ,

15065-499: The valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, a surplus which enabled them to form urban settlements. The world's earliest known texts come from the Sumerian cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr , and date to between c.  3350  – c.  2500 BC , following a period of proto-writing c.  4000  – c.  2500 BC . The term "Sumer" ( Akkadian : 𒋗𒈨𒊒 , romanized:  šumeru ) comes from

15196-402: The world. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew more conservatively estimated in 2016 that 17,810 plant species have a medicinal use, out of some 30,000 plants for which a use of any kind is documented. In modern medicine, around a quarter of the drugs prescribed to patients are derived from medicinal plants, and they are rigorously tested. In other systems of medicine, medicinal plants may constitute

15327-610: Was a temple for a goddess, or a female figure when headed by a male god) towards a more secular Lugal (Lu = man, Gal = great) and includes such legendary patriarchal figures as Dumuzid , Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh —who reigned shortly before the historic record opens c. 2900 BC, when the now deciphered syllabic writing started to develop from the early pictograms. The center of Sumerian culture remained in southern Mesopotamia, even though rulers soon began expanding into neighboring areas, and neighboring Semitic groups adopted much of Sumerian culture for their own. The earliest dynastic king on

15458-478: Was an early pharmacopoeia and introduced clinical trials . The Canon was translated into Latin in the 12th century and remained a medical authority in Europe until the 17th century. The Unani system of traditional medicine is also based on the Canon . Translations of the early Roman-Greek compilations were made into German by Hieronymus Bock whose herbal, published in 1546, was called Kreuter Buch . The book

15589-507: Was apparently written in haste and influenced by the European occupation of the previous 30 years. Fray Bernardino de Sahagún 's used ethnographic methods to compile his codices that then became the Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España , published in 1793. Castore Durante published his Herbario Nuovo in 1585 describing medicinal plants from Europe and the East and West Indies . It

15720-410: Was associated with increased war. Cities became walled, and increased in size as undefended villages in southern Mesopotamia disappeared. Both Enmerkar and Gilgamesh are credited with having built the walls of Uruk. The dynasty of Lagash (c. 2500–2270 BC), though omitted from the king list, is well attested through several important monuments and many archaeological finds. Although short-lived, one of

15851-578: Was deeply rooted in folk traditions and influenced by Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse practices. Herbal knowledge was passed down through generations, often by wise women known as "cunning folk." The "Physicians of Myddfai," a Welsh herbal manuscript from the 13th century, reflects the blending of Celtic and Christian beliefs in herbal medicine. In the Islamic Golden Age , scholars translated many classical Greek texts including Dioscorides into Arabic , adding their own commentaries. Herbalism flourished in

15982-474: Was derived from the Samarran culture from northern Mesopotamia. It is not known whether or not these were the actual Sumerians who are identified with the later Uruk culture. The story of the passing of the gifts of civilization ( me ) to Inanna , goddess of Uruk and of love and war, by Enki , god of wisdom and chief god of Eridu, may reflect the transition from Eridu to Uruk. The archaeological transition from

16113-472: Was first permanently settled between c.  5500 and c.  3300 BC by a West Asian people who spoke the Sumerian language (pointing to the names of cities, rivers, basic occupations, etc., as evidence), a non-Semitic and non- Indo-European agglutinative language isolate . Others have suggested that the Sumerians were a North African people who migrated from the Green Sahara into

16244-735: Was flooded at the end of the Ice Age . Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period (4th millennium BC), continuing into the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods. The Sumerian city of Eridu , on the coast of the Persian Gulf, is considered to have been one of the oldest cities , where three separate cultures may have fused: that of peasant Ubaidian farmers, living in mud-brick huts and practicing irrigation; that of mobile nomadic Semitic pastoralists living in black tents and following herds of sheep and goats; and that of fisher folk, living in reed huts in

16375-542: Was one kind of nattuvaidyam practised in south India. The others were kalarichikitsa (related to bone setting and musculature), marmachikitsa (vital spot massaging), ottamoolivaidyam (single dose medicine or single time medication), chintamanivaidyam and so on. When the medical system was revamped in twentieth century India, many of the practices and techniques specific to some of these diverse nattuvaidyam were included in Ayurveda. A home remedy (sometimes also referred to as

16506-498: Was probably used against whipworm . In ancient Sumeria , hundreds of medicinal plants including myrrh and opium are listed on clay tablets from around 3000 BC. The ancient Egyptian Ebers Papyrus lists over 800 plant medicines such as aloe , cannabis , castor bean , garlic , juniper , and mandrake . In antiquity, various cultures across Europe, including the Romans, Celts, and Nordic peoples, also practiced herbal medicine as

16637-475: Was the major language. Henceforth, Sumerian remained only a literary and liturgical language, similar to the position occupied by Latin in medieval Europe. Following an Elamite invasion and sack of Ur during the rule of Ibbi-Sin (c. 2028–2004 BC), Sumer came under Amorite rule (taken to introduce the Middle Bronze Age ). The independent Amorite states of the 20th to 18th centuries are summarized as

16768-632: Was the most widely used plant family for its medicinal properties. Nattuvaidyam was a set of indigenous medical practices that existed in India before the advent of allopathic or western medicine. These practices had different sets of principles and ideas of the body, health and disease. There were overlaps and borrowing of ideas, medicinal compounds used and techniques within these practices. Some of these practices had written texts in vernacular languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, etc. while others were handed down orally through various mnemonic devices. Ayurveda

16899-572: Was the pressure on wild populations of the Pacific yew soon after news of taxol's effectiveness became public. The threat from over-collection could be addressed by cultivation of some medicinal plants, or by a system of certification to make wild harvesting sustainable. A report in 2020 by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew identifies 723 medicinal plants as being at risk of extinction, caused partly by over-collection. Traditional medicine In some Asian and African countries, up to 80% of

17030-538: Was translated into Dutch as Pemptades by Rembert Dodoens (1517–1585), and from Dutch into English by Carolus Clusius , (1526–1609), published by Henry Lyte in 1578 as A Nievve Herball . This became John Gerard 's (1545–1612) Herball or General Historie of Plantes . Each new work was a compilation of existing texts with new additions. Women's folk knowledge existed in undocumented parallel with these texts. Forty-four drugs, diluents, flavouring agents and emollients mentioned by Dioscorides are still listed in

17161-421: Was translated into German in 1609 and Italian editions were published for the next century. In 17th and 18th-century America, traditional folk healers, frequently women, used herbal remedies, cupping and leeching . Native American traditional herbal medicine introduced cures for malaria, dysentery, scurvy, non-venereal syphilis, and goiter problems. Many of these herbal and folk remedies continued on through

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