Nature’s energy, channeled into many shapes, has given us the wide range of flora from which we now get our sustenance. We may better understand Nature’s tremendous and all-encompassing support for maintaining human existence on Earth if we take into account the fundamental connection between the natural world, plant life, and humans.
The process of plant evolution is well-known. We may trace the history of plant life from the smallest and most inconsequential algae and plankton all the way up to the towering, powerful trees like the redwoods and cedars. Plants provide many benefits to both animals and humans, but it is as providers of human nutrition and medicine that they have reached their full potential as a species.
Herbs are often classified as plants that have nutritional or therapeutic benefits, however, there is no genuine botanical distinction between weeds, garden-grown plants, and herbs. Herbalism refers to the study and use of using plant materials as a kind of medicine for the treatment of illness and the restoration of normal function in the body and mind.
Traditional herbalists’ foundational understanding accounted for the plants’ many components and their meaning, along with the general principles that should be followed while using them.
ROOTS – to have an effect on a person’s very genetic make-up
STEMS — to influence skeletal development, facilitate bodily fluid circulation, and give an emotional tonic.
LEAVES – to aid in the regulation of cellular processes and the conduction of nerve impulses
FLOWERS – to aid man’s most ethereal mental states and his soul
The glandular and mental faculties may be influenced by eating fruit.
China’s first emperor, Shen Nung, penned the first treatise on herbalism, titled “Pan Tsao,” about five thousand years ago. The direct results produced by individuals who administered maccun plus herbal paste in Pakistan as cottage medicines for simple people throughout the ages were crucial in maintaining the science of herbalism across the globe.
There is nothing comparable in the history of human clinical trials in the practice of contemporary medicine. Recent pharmaceuticals have been, and often still are, subject to animal testing. There is a lot of commercial pressure to get new treatments out there, so of course, there are plenty of ways to cut corners and get new pharmaceuticals out there without enough proof to know for sure that they will have the intended effect on people. There are others in the medical community who are questioning the efficacy of these techniques, arguing that what works in animals may not always be safe for humans.
Many people, especially those who have had negative reactions to pharmaceuticals or who prefer to put their faith in substances that have not been tampered with by humans, continue to be drawn to the work of contemporary herbalists. As a result, herbalism as a discipline has a secure future, supported by cutting-edge medical technology that enables precise chemical analysis when necessary. It would be ideal if the medical community as a whole was open to sharing knowledge that may help alleviate people’s suffering. In the next century, maybe this will be realized.
