In different cultures, herbalism can extend beyond the botanical to include not just fungi but bee pollen, minerals, shells and sometimes even certain animal parts. Here in New Zealand though, we tend to think of herbalism as purely botanical.
A Bit of History
The use of plants as medicines has been traced right back to before written human history to the Paleolithic Age roughly 60,000 years ago. Evidence has also been found to indicate the use of herbs and spices in cooking was initially developed partly as a response to food-borne pathogens. Even today, you find that food in tropical climates tends to be the most highly spiced and the spices used tend to be the most potent anti-microbial.
A lot of current day pharmaceuticals are based on botanicals with a long established history of use as herbal remedies, including opium, aspirin, digitalis, and quinine. There is still heavy reliance on herbal medicine in many parts of the world due to herbs being able to be collected from nature at no or little cost or grown from seed.
Herbalism Around the World
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80 per cent of the population of some Asian and African countries currently use herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care. The high cost of pharmaceuticals is still beyond the reach of most of the world's population, half of which survives on less than US$2 per day.
There is still intense, on-going scientific interest in learning how to harness the beneficial potential of many herbs and plants more effectively as the growing number of drugs and dietary supplements coming on to the market each year testifies. From Flaxseed and Evening Primrose Oils through to Goji Berries and Manuka, there is still a lot to learn about the power of herbalism to enhance and benefit human life.