1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background Of The Study
The universal role of plants in the treatment of disease is exemplified by their employment in all the major systems of medicine irrespective of the underlying philosophical premise. How and when such medicinal plants were first used ,is, in many cases, lost in pre-history, indeed animals other than man , appear to have their own materia medica.(Prajapati, et al., 2003). Nevertheless, it can be said with certainty that vegetable kingdom already existed when man made his appearance on earth. As man began to acquire closure acquaintance with his environment,he began to know more about plants, as these were the only curative agents he had. As he progressed and evolved, he was not only able to sort out which plants could be eaten, but also began to associate curative characteristics with certain plants.
Medicinal plants are of great value in the field of treatment and cure of disease. Over the years, scientific research has expanded our knowledge of the chemical effects and composition of the active constituents which determine the medicinal properties of plants. It has now been a universally accepted fact that the plant drugs and remedies are far more safe than synthetic medicines for curing complex diseases. Large numbers of alkaloids, glycosides, and antibiotics have been isolated, identified and used as curative agents. In the western world, as people are becoming aware of the potency and side effects of synthetic drugs, there is an increasing interest in the plant based remedies with a basic approach towards the nature. The future development of Pharmacognosy as well as herbal drug industry would be largely dependent upon the reliable methodologies for identification of marker compounds of the extracts, and also upon the standardization and quality control of these extracts.
Little more needs to be said about the present day importance of medicinal plants for it will be apparent to know that the plant themselves either in the form of crude drugs or even more important for the medicinally active materials isolated from them have been and always will be an important aid to physician in the treatment of disease.
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