ABSTRACT
Documentation of the use of natural substances for medicinal purposes can be found as far back as 78
.
., when
Dioscorides
wrote
De Materia Medica
, describing thousands of medicinal plants. This treatise included descriptions of many medicinal plants that remain important in modern medicine today, not because they continue to be used as crude drug preparations, but because they serve as the source of important pure chemicals that have become mainstays of modern therapy. A few examples will be cited here.
