In addition to all the other wonderful and necessary things plants provide, they are also an important source of drugs and pharmaceuticals. In fact, botany was traditionally regarded as a branch of medicine, and it has only been within the past 150 years that there have been professional botanists, as distinct from physicians.
Ancient Origins of Plants as Pharmaceuticals
The earliest known medical document extolling the virtues of plants as medicine is a 4,000 year old Sumerian clay tablet that recorded plant remedies for various illnesses. By the time of the ancient Egyptian civilization, a great wealth of knowledge already existed on medicinal plants. The Ebers papyrus from 3,500 years ago contained hundreds of plant remedies such as mandrake for pain relief, and garlic for the treatment of heart and circulatory disorders.
While indigenous people in all parts of the world discovered and developed medicinal uses of native plants, it is from the herbal remedies of ancient Greece that the foundations of Western medicine were established.
