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Medicinal plants have been identified and used throughout human history. Plants have the ability to synthesize a wide variety of chemical compounds that are used to perform important biological functions, and to defend against attack from predators such as insects, fungi and herbivorous mammals. At least 12,000 such compounds have been isolated so far; a number estimated to be less than 10% of the total.〔〔 Chemical compounds in plants mediate their effect on the human body through processes identical to those already well understood for the chemical compounds in conventional drugs; thus herbal medicines do not differ greatly from conventional drugs in terms of how they work. This enables herbal medicines to have beneficial pharmacology, but also gives them the same potential as conventional pharmaceutical drugs to cause harmful side effects. The use of plants as medicines predates written human history. Ethnobotany, the study of traditional human uses of plants, is recognized as an effective way to discover future medicines. In 2001, researchers identified 122 compounds used in modern medicine which were derived from "ethnomedical" plant sources; 80% of these have had an ethnomedical 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. Examples of such drugs include aspirin, digoxin, quinine, and opium. The use of herbs to treat disease is almost universal among non-industrialized societies and is often more affordable than purchasing modern pharmaceuticals. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80 percent of the population of some Asian and African countries presently use herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care. Studies in the United States and Europe have shown that their use is less common in clinical settings, but has become increasingly more common in recent years as scientific evidence about the effectiveness of herbal medicine has become more widely available. The annual global export value of pharmaceutical plants in 2011 accounted for over US$2.2 billion.〔http://www.traffic.org/medicinal-plants/〕 ==History== The use of plants as medicine predates written human history. Many of the herbs and spices used by humans to season food also yield useful medicinal compounds.〔〔 The use of herbs and spices in cuisine developed in part as a response to the threat of food-borne pathogens. Studies show that in tropical climates where pathogens are the most abundant, recipes are the most highly spiced. Further, the spices with the most potent antimicrobial activity tend to be selected. In all cultures vegetables are spiced less than meat, presumably because they are more resistant to spoilage. Angiosperms (flowering plants) were the original source of most plant medicines.〔 Many of the common weeds that populate human settlements, such as nettle, dandelion and chickweed, have medicinal properties. A large amount of archaeological evidence exists which indicates that humans were using medicinal plants during the Paleolithic, approximately 60,000 years ago. Furthermore, animals such as non-human primates, monarch butterflies and sheep are also known to ingest medicinal plants to treat illness.〔''(What animals know about medicine )''(, dw.tv ) (German)〕〔(''How animals heal themselves'', arte.tv ) (german)〕 Plant samples gathered from prehistoric burial sites are an example of the evidence supporting the claim that Paleolithic peoples had knowledge of herbal medicine. For instance, a 60 000-year-old Neanderthal burial site, "Shanidar IV", in northern Iraq has yielded large amounts of pollen from 8 plant species, 7 of which are used now as herbal remedies. The deliberate placement of flowers has been challenged. Paul B. Pettitt has stated that the "deliberate placement of flowers has now been convincingly eliminated", noting that "A recent examination of the microfauna from the strata into which the grave was cut suggests that the pollen was deposited by the burrowing rodent Meriones tersicus, which is common in the Shanidar microfauna and whose burrowing activity can be observed today".〔The Neanderthal Dead, exploring mortuary variability in middle paleolithic eurasia. Paul B. Pettitt (2002)〕Also medicinal herbs were found in the personal effects of ''Ötzi the Iceman'', whose body was frozen in the Ötztal Alps for more than 5,000 years. These herbs appear to have been used to treat the parasites found in his intestines. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「medicinal plants」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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