MEDICINAL PLANTS

• Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual technologies and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to diagnose, treat and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being
• Herbal medicine is the act or practice of using herbs, herbal preparations including extracts to maintain health and to alleviate or cure diseases therapy
• A medicinal herb or simply herb is a plant or plant part valued for its medicine, aromatic or savory qualities
• World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 4 billion people (representing 80% of world population) presently living in developing countries of the world rely on herbal medicinal products as primary source of healthcare and traditional medical practice
• The world health organization in 2004 noted that of 119 plant-derived pharmaceutical medicines, about 74% are used in modern medicine in ways that correlated directly with their traditional uses as plant medicines by native cultures
• Medicinal herbs


  Any plant which contain substances in its root, stem, leaf, fruit or flower that can be used for therapeutic purposes or which are precursors for the synthesis of useful drugs
• Examples of medicinal plants

  • Abrus precatorius
  • Azadirachta indica
  • Bambusa vulgaris
  • Carica papaya
  • Chromolaena odoratum
  • Fadogia agrestis
  • Massularia acuminata
  • Musa paradisiacal
  • Ocimum gratissimum
  • Vernonia amygdalina
• Reasons for increasing use of medicinal herbs

  • Less expensive and safer
  • Dissatisfaction or lack of efficacy of conventional therapies
  • Involvement in the decision-making process
  • Traditional/Cultural or spiritual preference
  • Significant side effects of conventional therapies
  • Believe that herbal products are superior to orthodox drugs
• Advantages of herbal medicine

  • Reduced risk of side effects
  • Effectives with chronic conditions
  • Reduced cost
  • Widespread availability
• Disadvantages of herbal medicine

  • Inappropriate for many conditions
  • Lack of dosage instructions
  • Poison risk associated with wild herbs
  • Medication interactions
  • Lack of regulation
• Herbs have been used by all cultures throughout history
• Many drugs today are of herbal origin
• Research has provided scientific evidence to the acclaimed sex enhancing potentials of Fadogia agrestis (Barkin gaigai-Hausa) stem
• Experimental evidence has also showed that Massularia acuminata (pako ijebu/orin ijebu-Yoruba) has antibacterial potentials, thus justifying its use as chewing stick in traditional medicine
• Most herbalists/herb sellers use as many as between 6-14 plants for a given disease condition with claim that some herbs will reduce symptoms of the diseases while others will improve digestion and absorption of the remaining herbs
• The therapeutic benefit of herbal products stems from the synergistic action of several natural components in the herbs
• Some constituents that are thought to be inactive may actually play a role in the pharmacokinetics of the active component
• Many consumers use herbs on self-medication
• Medicinal plants are globally valuable sources of new drugs
• Threats to the existence of medicinal plants

  • Degradation of habitat due to expanding human activity
  • Forest degeneration
  • Destructive collection of plant species
  • Invasion of exotic species that compete with native species
  • Increased spread of diseases
  • Industrialization
  • Over-exploitation
  • Human socioeconomic change and disturbance
  • Changes in agricultural practices
  • Excessive use of agrochemicals
  • Natural and man-made calamities
  • Genetic erosion
• Conservation of medicinal plants


  The act by which the environment is managed in such a way to obtain the greatest value for the present generation and maintaining the potential of the herbs for the future
• For most of the endangered medicinal plant species, no conservation action has been taken
• There is very little evidence of medicinal plants in the gene-banks
• Too much emphasis has been placed on the potential of the medicinal plants for discovering new potent and novel drugs, and too little on the many problems involved in the use of traditional medicines by local populations
• For most countries, there is not even a complete inventory of medicinal plants
• Much of the knowledge on their use is held by traditional societies, whose very existence is now under threat
• Little of this information has been recorded in a systematic manner
• To meet the requirements of expanding regional and international markets healthcare products and needs of growing populations, large quantities of medicinal plants are harvested from forests
• In Nigeria, large number of medicinal plants is extracted from the wild to meet the increasing demand for raw materials needed for domestic consumption
• As a result, the natural resources are being depleted
• Angered medicinal plant species, no conservation action has been taken
• As a result, the natural resources are rapidly depleting
• Conservation of biological diversity


  Protecting, restoration and enhancing the variety of life in an area so that the abundance and distribution of species and communities contributes to sustainable development
• The ultimate goal of conservation biology


  To maintain the evolutionary potential of species by maintaining natural levels of diversity which is essential for species and populations to respond to long- and short-term environmental changes in order to overcome stochastic factors failing which would result in extinction
• In-situ conservation


  • Maintaining genetic resources in their natural habitats i.e., within the ecosystem to which it is adapted, whether as wild or crop cultivar in farmer's field as components of the traditional agricultural systems
• Key operational steps for establishing in situ gene-banks for conservation of prioritized medicinal plants

  1. Threat assessment

  2. Establishment of a network of medicinal plant forest reserves

  3. Involving local stakeholders

  4. Botanical, ecological, trade and ethno-medical surveys

  5. Assessing intraspecific variability of prioritized species

  6. Designing species recovery programs

  7. Establishment of a medicinal plant seed center
• No in situ conservation project can succeed without the complete cooperation and involvement of local people
• Natural reserves


  • Protected areas of important wild resources created to preserve and restore biodiversity
• Around the world, more than 12,700 protected areas have been established, accounting for 13.2 million km2, or 8.81 % of the Earth's land surface
• Wild nurseries


  • Established for species-oriented cultivating and domesticating of endangered medicinal plants in a protected area, natural habitat, or a place that is only a short distance from where the plants naturally grow