ABSTRACT
Plants have formed the basis of traditional medicine systems relying on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures in the maintenance of health, prevention of diseases, and improvement of physical and mental illness. As civilizations grew from 3000 bc onwards in Egypt, the Middle East, India, and China, the uses of herbs became more sophisticated and written records were prepared. The exploitation of plants for medicines has a long and honorable history, since starting from the ethnopharmacological use by the indigenous people to cure different diseases, natural substances have been important tools in the discovery of new targets
21.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 381 21.2 Curare ......................................................................................................... 382 21.3 Pilocarpus jaborandi ..................................................................................384 21.4 Atropa belladonna (Deadly Nightshade) .................................................... 385 21.5 Physostigma venenosum (Calabar Bean) .................................................... 388 21.6 Ergot ...........................................................................................................390 21.7 Cannabis sativa .......................................................................................... 391 21.8 Erythroxylon coca ...................................................................................... 393 21.9 Rauwol•a serpentine .................................................................................. 395 21.10 Papaverum somniferum .............................................................................. 396 21.11 Salix alba .................................................................................................... 398 21.12 Capsicum annuum ...................................................................................... 399 21.13 Digitalis purpurea ......................................................................................400 21.14 Cinchona bark ............................................................................................ 401 References ..............................................................................................................403
