In this herb catalogue from A to Z, part of a large online herb encyclopedia, you will find all herbs and medicinal plants from Bulgaria and the world arranged alphabetically. In the articles of this alphabet, you will find complete information about the types of herbs, their structure, distribution, chemical composition, usable parts, medicinal properties and applications.
What is an herb and what is a medicinal plant?
A herb is a whole plant or part of it (seeds, root, fruit, leaves, tree bark, flowers) that in a dried or fresh state can be used for treatment and prophylaxis. In addition to the production of medicines, herbs can be used in the food and cosmetic industries.
On the other hand, plants that contain biologically active substances (i.e. have medicinal properties) and can be used for therapeutic purposes or are starting substances for the production of chemical-pharmaceutical products are designated as medicinal. When a plant is designated as ‘medicinal’, it is presumed to be the main active ingredient or one of the active ingredients in a medicinal product. Approximately one-quarter of all prescription medicines contain an ingredient derived from such a plant. For example, digitalis, used in cardiovascular medicine, is derived from the ornamental thimble flower.
Thus, medicinal plants can be defined as a group of plants that possess certain specific properties and are used for medicinal purposes.
Scientists and pharmaceutical companies are constantly searching for new substances in plant species that possess medicinal properties. The possibilities are endless, but there are limited resources to test new compounds. People studying the use of plants locally are called “ethnobotanists”. Local people have had thousands of years to experiment with the plants around them and can often provide scientists with valuable information. These people use plants for reasons they cannot explain. For example, spleenwort is used to treat diseases of the spleen (spleen) because the leaves are shaped like this organ.
What is the difference between a medicine and an herb?
Herbs are the product of medicinal plants, while medicines are created using chemical synthesis under the right laboratory conditions!
The intake of medicines is prescribed by a doctor, while herbs can be used freely for medicinal purposes. But keep in mind that many of them can be dangerous depending on their chemical composition and the dose taken, so it is best to consult a herbalist for their use.
Many potential medicinal plants have toxic compounds. These substances can be used in purified form and in small doses. Doctors say that the difference between medicine and poison is the dose. Plants contain enough toxic compounds to ward off some insects and herbivores. Plant species that can resist insects are less susceptible to diseases carried by them. This adaptation gives them an edge in survival and reproduction
Scientists and herbalists often use the name “active substances” to refer to chemical substances in the herb to which the plant’s healing effect is attributed. Active constituents are not the only beneficial substances in herbs. For example, hypericin and hyperforin are considered active substances in St. John’s wort. The benefits that the plant provides are not just the result of these two chemicals but from a synergistic interaction between them and a host of other naturally occurring compounds found in the herb.
Pharmaceutical companies often make the mistake of extracting the active substance from the plant without its other natural constituents, or even worse, produce a synthetic copy of the active ingredient. The result they arrive at is a medicinal product that is far removed from what nature created – i.e. without the benefits of the synergistic interactions of the herb’s original constituents. This often leads to the manifestation of undesirable side effects when using the medication.
While herbalists prefer to use the whole herb and believe that one of the reasons why there are fewer side effects is the balance of natural ingredients, pharmaceutical companies want to chemically isolate a “pure” herbal concentrate to acquire a patent and reap large profits.
The history of traditional plant-based medicine
Plants have formed the basis of sophisticated traditional medical practices that have been used for thousands of years in China, India and many other countries. Some of the earliest records of the use of plants as drugs are found in the Artharvaveda, which is the basis of Ayurvedic medicine in India (dating back to 2000 BC), clay tablets in Mesopotamia (1700 BC) and the Eber Papyrus Egypt (1550 BC).
Today, herbs are still important sources of medicine, especially in developing countries that continue to use traditional medicine. In 1985, the World Health Organization (WHO) Bulletin estimated that about 80% of the world’s population relied on medicinal plants as a major source of health care. More recently, the World Health Organization estimates that the same percentage of people worldwide still rely on some herbal medicines. In industrialized countries, treatment with herbal products is also referred to as complementary therapy or alternative medicine.
The role of plants in human history
Plants have also been used in many cultures since ancient times in the production of stimulant drinks (e.g. tea, coffee, cocoa and cola) and alcoholic beverages (e.g. wine, beer, cava – Spanish sparkling wine) and this trend continues today. Tea (Camellia sinensis Kuntze) was first consumed in ancient China, while coffee (Coffea arabica L.) was originally cultivated in Yemen for commercial purposes in the 9th century. The Aztecs, on the other hand, used bitter drinks containing raw cocoa beans (Theobroma cacao L.), red peppers and various herbs. Today, tea, coffee and cocoa are important commodities and their consumption has spread throughout the world. The active components of these stimulants are methylated xanthine derivatives, namely caffeine, theophylline and theobromine, which are the main constituents of coffee, tea and cocoa.
In conclusion, plants provide humans with many of their basic needs. There are more than 270 000 higher plants on our planet. But only a small fraction has been studied phytochemically. It has been suggested that plants may provide potential bioactive compounds for the development of new products to combat various diseases. Since most of the available higher plant species have not yet been screened for biologically active compounds, the discovery of new plant-derived drugs is yet to come!
- A
- –Abrus precatorius
- –Ageratina altissima
- – Aloe Vera, Aloes
- B
- C
- D
- Y
- – Yarrow, Milfoil