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Importance Of Medicinal Plants

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Plants have been used both in the prevention and cure of various diseases of humans and their pets. With the advent of human civilization, many systems of therapy have been developed primarily based on plants. Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Sidda, Unani, etc. are our traditional systems of medicine. The plant traditional medicinal systems continue to provide the primary health care to more than three-quarters of the world’s population. The World Health Organization has estimated that over 80% of the global populations rely chiefly on traditional medicine (Akerele, 1992). Since the beginning of human civilization, medicinal plants have been used by mankind for its therapeutic value. Nature has been a source of medicinal agents for thousands of years and an impressive number of modern drugs have been isolated from natural sources. …show more content…
The books on ayurvedic medicine such as Charaka Samhita and Susruta Samhita refer to the use of more than 700 herbs (Jain, 1968). Medicinal plants have been playing important role in modern world. The use of traditional medicines and medicinal plants in most developing countries as therapeutic agents for the maintenance of good health has been widely observed (UNESCO, 1996). In 2001, researchers identified 122 compounds used in modern medicine which were derived from traditional plant sources; 80% of these have had a traditional use identical or related to the current use of the active elements of the plant. Some of the pharmaceuticals currently available to physicians are derived from plants that have a long history of use as herbal remedies, including aspirin, digoxin, quinine, and

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