Medicinal plants history A Lecture By Mr Allah Dad Khan Former DG Agriculture Extension Khyber Pakhtun Khwa Province & Visiting Professor Agriculture University Peshawar Pakistan

4.  Healing with medicinal plants is as old as
mankind itself.
 The connection between man and his search for
drugs in nature dates from the far past, of which
there is ample evidence from various sources:
written documents, preserved monuments, and
even original plant medicines.
 Awareness of medicinal plants usage is a result
of the many years of struggles against illnesses
due to which man learned to pursue drugs in
barks, seeds, fruit bodies, and other parts of the
plants.

5.  Archaeology evidences shows
that Paleothic used Medicinal
plants 60000 years back.
 The oldest written evidence
of medicinal plants’ usage for
preparation of drugs has
been found on a Sumerian
clay slab from Nagpur,
approximately 5000 years
old.
 It comprised 12 recipes for
drug preparation referring to
over 250 various plants, some
of them alkaloid such as
poppy, henbane, and
mandrake.[

6. The oldest known list of
medicinal herbs is a Chinese
herbal that is probably a
compilation of an even older
oral tradition.

7. The Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi
(ca. 2900 BC), whom the
Chinese credit with bringing
civilization to China, seems
to have made reference to
Ma, the Chinese word for
Cannabis, noting that
Cannabis was very popular
medicine that possessed
both yin and yang."
Emperor Fu Hsi
Source: jaars.org (accessed May 25, Emperor Fu Hsi
Source: jaars.org (accessed May 25, 201Emperor Fu Hsi

8. "According to Chinese legend,
the emperor Shen Nung (circa
2700 BC; also known as Chen
Nung) [considered the Father of
Chinese medicine] discovered
marijuana's healing properties
as well as those of two other
mainstays of Chinese herbal
medicine, ginseng and ephedra

9. The Chinese book on roots and
grasses “Pen T’Sao,” written by
Emperor Shen Nung circa 2500
BC, treats 365 drugs (dried
parts of medicinal plants), many
of which are used even
nowadays such as the
following: Rhei rhisoma,
camphor, Theae folium,
Podophyllum, the great yellow
gentian, ginseng, jimson weed,
cinnamon bark, and ephedra

10.  The medicine system
of Ayurveda,
originated from the
Hindu vedas, which
were written around
2000 BCE (Wikipedia,
Herbal), specifically
the Rig Veda, the
major medicinal
work, wrote of the
herb, “snakeroot
which was a
treatment for
insanity”

11. The Ebers Papyrus, written
circa 1550 BC, represents a
collection of 800 proscriptions
referring to 700 plant species
and drugs used for therapy such
as pomegranate, castor oil
plant, aloe, senna, garlic,
onion, fig, willow, coriander,
juniper, common centaury, and
cannabis for inflammation etc

12. "The use of cannabis for
purposes of healing predates
recorded history. The
earliest written reference is
found in the 15th century BC
Chinese Pharmacopeia, the
Rh-Ya

13. In Homer's epics The Iliad
and The Odysseys, created
circa 800 BC, 63 plant
species from the Minoan,
Mycenaean, and Egyptian
Assyrian pharmacotherapy
were referred to. Some of
them were given the names
after mythological
characters from these epics;
for instance, Elecampane
(Inula helenium L.
Asteraceae) was named in
honor of Elena, who was the
centre of the Trojan War

14. "The Venidad, one of the
volumes of the Zend-
Avesta, the ancient
Persian religious text
written around the
seventh century BC
purportedly by Zoroaster
(or Zarathustra), the
founder of Zoroastrianism,
and heavily influenced by
the Vedas,
mentions bhang and lists
cannabis as the most
important of 10,000
medicinal plants."
 Persian Prophet and
Philosopher Zoroaster

15.  Herodotus (500 BC) referred to
castor oil plant, Orpheus to the
fragrant hellebore and garlic,
and Pythagoras to the sea onion
(Scilla maritima), mustard, and
cabbage. The works of
Hippocrates (459–370 BC) contain
300 medicinal plants classified
by physiological action:
Wormwood and common
centaury (Centaurium
umbellatum Gilib) were applied
against fever; garlic against
intestine parasites; opium,
henbane, deadly nightshade, and
mandrake were used as
narcotics; fragrant hellebore and
haselwort as emetics; sea onion,
celery, parsley, asparagus, and
garlic as diuretics; oak and
pomegranate as adstringents

16.  The works of Hippocrates
(459–370 BC) contain 300
medicinal plants classified by
physiological action:
Wormwood and common
centaury (Centaurium
umbellatum Gilib) were
applied against fever; garlic
against intestine parasites;
opium, henbane, deadly
nightshade, and mandrake
were used as narcotics;
fragrant hellebore and
haselwort as emetics; sea
onion, celery, parsley,
asparagus, and garlic as
diuretics; oak and
pomegranate as adstringents

17. Theophrast (371-287 BC)
founded botanical science
with his books “De Causis
Plantarium”— Plant Etiology
and “De Historia
Plantarium”—Plant History.
In the books, he generated a
classification of more than
500 medicinal plants known
at the time.

18. In his work “De re medica”
the renowned medical writer
Celsus (25 BC–50 AD) quoted
approximately 250 medicinal
plants such as aloe,
henbane, flax, poppy,
pepper, cinnamon, the star
gentian, cardamom, false
hellebore, etc

19. In a compendium of drug
recipes compiled in 1 AD
[Pen Ts'ao Ching], based
on traditions from the
time of Shen Nung,
marijuana is depicted as
an ideogram [pictorial
symbol] of plants drying
in a shed. This ancient
text... recommends
marijuana for more than
100 ailments, including
gout, rheumatism,
malaria, and
absentmindedness.
 Chinese ideogram for
marijuana ("ma")

20.  In 65 A.D., Dioscorides, a
Greek, wrote his Materia
Medica (13.152.6). This was a
practical text dealing with the
medicinal use of more than 600
plants.
 In the second century, Galen
synthesized much of what has
been attributed to
Hippocrates. To further his
understanding of bodily
functions, he performed
animal and even human
dissections and was able to
demonstrate that the arteries
carried blood rather than air.
 Galenic theories had great
longevity, prevailing in western
Europe until the sixteenth
century.

21. Pliny the Elder (23 AD-79), a
contemporary of
Dioscorides, who travelled
throughout Germany and
Spain, wrote about
approximately 1000
medicinal plants in his book
“Historia naturalis.” Pliny's
and Dioscorides’ works
incorporated all knowledge
of medicinal plants at the
time.

22. writes De Materia
Medica– a precursor
of
modern pharmacopo
eias that was in use
for almost 1600
years

23.  In ancient history, the
most prominent writer
on plant drugs was
Dioscorides, “the father
of pharmacognosy,”
who, as a military
physician and
pharmacognosist of
Nero's Army, studied
medicinal plants
wherever he travelled
with the Roman Army.
Circa 77 AD he wrote
the work “De Materia
Medica.”

24.  The most distinguished
Roman physician
(concurrently a
pharmacist), Galen (131
AD–200), compiled the
first list of drugs with
similar or identical action
(parallel drugs), which are
interchangeable—“De
succedanus.

25.  He is credited with being the first
person to use Cannabis as an
anesthetic. The Chinese term for
anesthesia is also composed of the
Chinese character that means
hemp, followed by the means of
intoxication. He dried and
powdered the plant, mixing it with
wine for internal and external
administrations. Hua Tuo
performed surgeries to remove
diseased tissues with local and
systemic administration of his
Cannabis wine anesthetic and
acupuncture to control the pain.
Hua Tuo was likely using the
stronger Indian hemp or strains
higher in CBD.

26. Regarded as one of the great
physicians of the Han
dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), the
most glorious period in
Chinese medical history,
Chang Chung-ching 神農
wroteShang han
lun (Treatise on Colds and
Fevers). This work had a
profound influence on
Chinese medicine and is
considered to be the most
important medical classic
after the Huang-ti Nei
ching. Chang Chung-ching is
called the Hippocrates of
China.

27. Tea is first mentioned in
Chinese writing in 222 AD
as a substitute for wine,
and in a circa 350 AD
Chinese dictionary. By the
third century AD tea was
being advocated for its
properties as a healthy,
refreshing drink and the
benefits of tea drinking,
but it was not until the
Nobility of the Tang
Dynasty (618 AD - 906 AD)
made tea fashionable,
that tea became China's
national drink

28. Charles the Great (742 AD–
814), the founder of the
reputed medical school in
Salerno, in his “Capitularies”
ordered which medicinal
plants were to be grown on
the state-owned lands.
Around 100 different plants
were quoted, which have
been used till present days
such as sage, sea onion, iris,
mint, common centaury,
poppy, marsh mallow, etc.

29.  “Canon Medicinae” by Avicen
 Abu ‘Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina is
better known in Europe by the
Latinized name “Avicenna.” He
is probably the most significant
philosopher in the Islamic
tradition and arguably the most
influential philosopher of the
pre-modern era. Born in Afshana
near Bukhara in Central Asia in
about 980, he is best known as a
polymath, as a physician whose
major work the Canon (al-Qanun
fi’l-Tibb) continued to be taught
as a medical textbook in Europe
and in the Islamic worldna

30.  Andalusian Muslim physici
an and pharmacologist wh
o wrote an important book
on the history of
medicine. His works on
pharmacology were
frequently quoted by
physicians in Muslim Spain
during the 10th and 11th
centuries. Some of his
works were later studied
by Albertus Magnus,
like De secretis, but were
attributed to
a Latinized version of his
name, Gilgil

31. known in Latin Europe
as Abenguefit, was a
pharmacologist and
physician from Toledo. He
was the vizier of Al-Mamun
of Toledo. His main work
is Kitāb al-adwiya al-
mufrada ( ‫األدوية‬ ‫كتاب‬
‫المفردة‬, translated into Latin
as De medicamentis
simplicibus).[

32.  “Liber Magnae
Collectionis Simplicum
Alimentorum Et
Medicamentorum”
 Abu Muhammad
Abdallah Ibn Ahmad
Ibn al-Baitar Dhiya al-
Din al-Malaqi (known as
Ibn al-Baitar, circa
1197–1248 AD) was an
Andalusian Arab
scientist, botanist,
pharmacist, and
physician. He was born
in Malaga, Spain, and
died in Damascus, Syria.

33.  Marco Polo's journeys
(1254-1324) in
tropical Asia, China,
and Persia.
 Marco Polo was born
in around 1254 into a
wealthy and
cosmopolitan
Venetian merchant
family. Polo's father
and uncle, Niccolò
and Maffeo Polo,
were jewel merchants

34.  Discovery of America
(1492), and Vasco De
Gama's journeys to India
(1498), resulted in many
medicinal plants being
brought into Europe.
Botanical gardens
emerged all over Europe,
and attempts were made
for cultivation of domestic
medicinal plants and of
the ones imported from
the old and the new world

35.  Paracelsus (1493-1541)
was one of the proponents
of chemically prepared
drugs out of raw plants
and mineral substances;
nonetheless, he was a firm
believer that the
collection of those
substances ought to be
astrologically determined.
 He emphasized the
importance of experience
with patients and railed
against blind faith in the
ancient physicians.

36. Chinese medicine seems to have
reached its peak during the
Ming dynasty (1368-1644) when
Li Shih-chen 李時珍 wrote
his Pen ts'ao kang mu (The
Great Herbal). This great
pharmacopoeia, which
summarizes what was known of
herbal medicine up to the late
16th century, describes in detail
more than 1800 plants, animal
substances, minerals, and
metals, along with their
medicinal properties and
applications. Li Shih-chen was
35 years old when he began to
compile his Pen ts'ao kang mu.
He took 27 years to finish it

37.  While Paracelsus and
Culpeper promoted the
doctrine of signatures and
astrological herbalism,
medical practice was
changing. Men like Francis
Bacon(1561-1626)
and William Harvey (1578-
1657) were transforming
science from a speculative to
an experimental process.
 Harvey’s circulation of the
blood more useful than
Culpeper’s movements of the
planets started what might
be called scientific medicine.

38.  A century later,
Englishman Nicholas
Culpeper (1616-1654)
revitalized another ancient
facet of herbalism: astrology.
Astrological herbalists
connected herbs to different
signs of the zodiac. They
treated specific ailments by
determining what sign and
planet ruled over the part of
the body that needed care
and then prescribing an herb
of the same astrological sign.
According to Culpeper, “he
that would know the reason
of the operation of the
Herbs, must look up as high
as the stars.”

39. Preacher Charles Wesley. He
advocated for sensible
eating, good hygiene and
herbal treatments for
healthy living.

40.  In 18th century, in his
work Species
Plantarium (1753),
Linnaeus (1707-1788)
provided a brief
description and
classification of the
species described
until then. "The
Species of Plants") is
a book byCarl
Linnaeus originally
published in 1753,.

41. Early 19th century was a turning point in the knowledge and
use of medicinal plants. The discovery, substantiation, and
isolation of alkaloids from
1. Poppy (1806),
2. Ipecacuanha (1817).
3. Strychnos (1817).
4. Quinine (1820).
5. Pomegranate (1878).

42.  was an Indian physician
specialising in the field
of South Asian
traditionalUnani medici
ne as well as a Muslim
Nationalist, politician
and freedom fighter.
Through his founding of
the Tibbia College in
Delhi, he is credited
with the revival of
Unani medicine in early
20th century India

43.  (Urdu: ‫محمد‬ ‫حکیم‬
‫سعید‬;9 January 1920 –
17 October 1998, NI, PhD)
was a medical researcher,
scholar, philanthropist,
and a Governor of Sindh
Province, Pakistan from
1993 until 1996. Saeed
was one of Pakistan's most
prominent medical
researchers in the field of
Eastern medicines. He
established the Hamdard
Foundation in 1948, prior
to his settlement in
Pakistan.