ABSTRACT
Plants support modern medicine and public health in several main ways. They contribute directly, in the form of active therapeutic agents, e.g., reserpine from Rauwolfia serpentina, used notably as a tranquilizer and for spot treatment of hypertension, anxiety, and schizophrenia. Second, plants contribute basic materials for drug synthesis, e.g., the steroidal sapogenins from the Mexican yam, used as the start-point materials for manufacture of cortisone, hydrocortisone, androgens, estrogens, progestins, and oral contraceptives. Plainly the plant kingdom contributes a great deal to our daily lives in the form of medicines, drugs, pharmaceuticals, and related products. As an indication of their multiple applications in modern medicine, alkaloids include strychnine, cocaine, narcotics such as morphine and nicotine, hallucinogens such as mescaline and lysergic acid diethylamide, and a host of drugs used as pain-killers, antimalarials, cardiac and respiratory stimulants, blood pressure boosters, tumor inhibitors, and antileukemic drugs.
