Introduction Part 2

• A drug of preparation made from a plant or plants and used to prevent and treat diseases and ailments or to promote health and healing.
• Phytomedicine obtained from herbal sources are in great demand in the developed world as they are able to cure many infectious diseases. These plant based drugs provide outstanding contribution to modern therapeutics.
• The natural medicine are attracting renewed attention from both practical and scientific view points. They have proved their efficacy for primary health care because of their safety and lesser side effects.
• They also offer therapeutics for age-related disorders like memory loss, osteoporosis, immune disorders, etc. The newfound popularity is due to their almost miraculous success with cases which were given up as hopeless by the allopathic doctors as side-effect free treatment.
• The world is now moving towards herbal medicine or phytomedicines that repair and strengthen bodily systems (especially the immune system, which can then properly fight foreign invaders) and help to destroy offending pathogens without tosic side effects.
• Opium the latex of Papaver somniferum used by ancient Sumarians. Egyptians and Greeks for the treatment of headaches, arthritis and inducing sleep.

  Codeine, Morphin
• Atropa belladona, Hyascyamus niger etc., important drugs in Babylonium folklore.

  Atropine, Hyoscyamine
• Crude drug (astringent yellow) derived from Ephedra sinica, used by Chinese for respiratory ailments since 2700 BC.


  Ephedrine
• Cinchona spp, used by the Peruvian Indians for the treatment of fevers

  Quinine
• Brazilian Indians and several others South American tribes used root and rhizomes of Cephaelis spp to induce vomiting and cure dysentery.

  Emetine
• Use of Colchicum in the treatment of gout has been known in Europe since 78 AD

  Colchicine
• Digitalis leaves were being used in heart therapy in Europe during the 19th century.


  Digoxin
• People on all continents have used hundreds to thousands of indigenous plants for treatment of ailments since prehistoric times

  Role of phytomedicine in human society
• Cellular structure present


  Organized drug
• Part of plant, animal-like, fruits, seeds, and roots etc

  Organized drugs
• To study them properly, T.S or L.C is taken and study under microscope

  Organized drugs
• Solid in nature


  organized drug
• Cellular structure is absent


  unorganized drug
• obtained from parts of plant and animal by extraction, distillation incision, expression or exudates, secretion etc

  unorganized drug
• Studies include physical constituents like density, viscosity, refractive index, optical rotation, and chemical test

  unorganized drug
• solid, semisolid, or liquid


  unorganized drug
• Example of organized drug


  clove, fennel, dill, digitalis
• Example of unorganized drugs


  lemon oil, starch, catechu
• Any substance or drug (crude or prepared), which is included in the issue of pharmacopoeia of a country and is officially used for therapeutic purposes


  official drugs
• Used in treating cancer diseases


  Whole plant Catharanthus and their active constituents (vincristine and vinblastine)
• Used as narcotic


  Latex of fruit of poppy plants (Papaver sp.) and its active constituents (Morphine)
• Used as stimulants


  Caffeine from the seeds of coffee plants and Thiamine from leaves of tea plants
• A drug, which has once been recognized as a drug in the pharmacopoeia, but not included in the issue of the pharmacopoeia or any official drug literature

  Unofficial drug