Introduction to Herbology – Herbs and Health

There is nothing new about the use of herbs to promote recovery, health and wellbeing. Every culture throughout the world has at some point used healing plants as the basis for its medicine and had a basic healing flora from which remedies were selected. The range of plants would vary from area to area depending on the local ecosystem, but the human problems they dealt with were the same.

The therapeutic philosophy for plant use also varies, but for thousands of years plants have demonstrated their efficiency as healing agents. From the Celtic druid priests to the traditional healers of Africa; we find them within the Indian ayurvedic system and in Chinese medicine alongside acupuncture and other techniques; they play a very important role in the spiritual healing ecology of the Native North Americans; and we see their constituents being utilised as a source of drugs in ‘orthodox’ medicine.

In fact, medicine has its roots in the use of herbs. Until about 50 years ago, nearly all the entries in pharmacopoeias describing the manufacture of drugs indicated a herbal origin. Only since the refinement of chemical technology has the use of herbs apparently diminished – though the majority of drugs still have their origin in plant material.

Today the popularity of herbalism is growing. More and more people are discovering that this is an effective and comparatively inexpensive form of health care. They appreciate the fact that it draws exclusively on natural products. They have learnt that it is as useful in preventing illness as it is in curing it. However, there are other factors that attract people to herbal medicine and this introductory section will look at these in more detail.