ABSTRACT
This chapter provides several examples of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) plants that are gaining widespread interest in the wellness and medical arena have been chosen and are now being sold as dietary or nutritional supplements worldwide. Some Chinese medicines have been adapted by the West in the form of dietary supplements. At least two of the top 10 selling botanical products are derived from TCM, including, ginkgo, ginseng, green tea, cordyceps, salvia, red yeast rice, dong quai, and garlic. Two major drugs are employed in the fight against malaria and both originate directly from natural products: quinine from the bark of the cinchona tree found in South America and artemisinin from the leaves of Artemisia annua native to China. Ephedra comes from the plant Ephedra sinica, known in Chinese as Ma Huang and have been used in TCM for 5,000 years for the treatment of asthma and hay fever as well as for common cold.
