The Origins of Plant Medicine
(Page 2 of 3)
June/July 2009
By The Herb Companion staff
Timeline: Crossing the Globe
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Tracing the development of medicinal plant knowledge is a mapmaker’s paradise. It follows paths leading from royal physicians, Buddhist monks and Amazonian hunters to the hands of early traders, world explorers and North American pioneers. It runs a line parallel to the first writings known, moving from the eyes of a select few and then, thanks to the invention of the printing press, to the eyes of the masses.
A few big events and a few big names are pivotal to this transfer of knowledge. Among them:
Second and First Millenia B.C.
• The Ebers Papyrus of Egypt, which dates to 1500 b.c., includes descriptions of dozens of herbal remedies and their uses, including castor oil.
• Around the same time, in India epic poems (the Vedas) presented stories rich in herbal lore.
• Eight hundred years later, the Charaka Samhita was written by the physician Charaka in India. He describes about 350 herbal medicines, including visnaga, an herb of North African origin that has recently proven effective in treating asthma.
First and Second Century A.D.
• The Shen’nong Bencaojing, or Divine Husbandman’s Classic, was written in China during the first century. It includes 252 herbal medicines. This early herbal paved the way for Traditional Chinese Medicine.
• At about the same time in Europe, Dioscorides wrote his De Materia Medica, a text that lists about 600 herbs. It was used as the principal reference for medicinal herbs in Europe until the 17th century. Originally made for Juliana Arnicia, daughter of the Roman emperor Flavius Avicius Olybrius, the herbal contained nearly 400 full-page color illustrations.
• By the second century, world trade was established; medicinal herbs were wares. Writers began to catalog them and record their properties.
Sixth to 14th Century A.D.
• Between the sixth and 14th centuries, Arabic culture spread to Europe, bringing the knowledge of blending herbs to achieve different effects—in other words, the art of pharmacy. In India, Ayurvedic medicine developed in the universities and hospitals.
• Hildegard of Bingen, who was an herbal authority and the first German woman physician, wrote the Book of Simple Medicine and Book of Composed Medicine between 1151 and 1161. In the former, she describes the medicinal uses and harvesting of more than 200 herbs and other plants. In the latter, she lists more than 300 plants, along with herbal treatments.