Purported use to lower blood cholesterol and high blood pressure. It is used to control inflammation, to stop bedwetting and as a mouthwash in cases of bleeding gums. īelieved to be an emollient and laxative. The plant contains the toxin tremetol which causes milk sickness, a sometimes fatal condition. The smoke from burning leaves is used to revive unconscious people. A root poultice can be used on snakebites. Root tea has been used to treat diarrhea, kidney stones, and fever. The raw plant materials are toxic unless processed. It may be useful for treating chronic venous insufficiency. Its seeds, leaves, bark, and flowers have been used medicinally for many centuries for treating joint pain, bladder and gastrointestinal problems, fever, leg cramps, and other conditions. Historically used for arthritis and muscle pain, used more recently for conditions related to menopause and menstruation. Purported to be a diaphoretic, astringent, tonic, stimulant and mild aromatic. Few traditional remedies, however, have translated into modern drugs, although there is continuing research into the efficacy and possible adaptation of traditional herbal treatments.Ī natural gum sourced from hardened sap of various species of acacia tree used in ancient birth control as well as a binder and emulsifier for medicinal compounds. The opium poppy is a major industrial source of opiates, including morphine. Examples of such derivatives include aspirin, which is chemically related to the salicylic acid found in white willow. The phytochemicals may be synthesized, compounded or otherwise transformed to make pharmaceuticals.
Some modern prescription drugs are based on plant extracts rather than whole plants. Pharmacognosy is the study of plant sources of phytochemicals. For example, the marsh mallow has the classification Althaea officinalis, as it was traditionally used as an emollient to soothe ulcers. In the Latin names for plants created by Linnaeus, the word officinalis indicates that a plant was used in this way.
In Europe, apothecaries stocked herbal ingredients as traditional medicines. Secondary metabolites and pigments may have therapeutic actions in humans, and can be refined to produce drugs examples are quinine from the cinchona, morphine and codeine from the poppy, and digoxin from the foxglove. įor example, some secondary metabolites are toxins used to deter predation, and others are pheromones used to attract insects for pollination.
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