ABSTRACT

Dear Reader,

Use of herbs as medicines is as old as history of human civilization. Discovery of most of the modern medicines dates back to 19^th and 20^th century. Most of the potent drugs discovered have their origin in plants and they were also called “Drugs from Plants or Drugs from Nature”. Some of the examples include Morphine from Opium (1803 AD), Quinine from Cinchona bark (1820 AD), Salicin from Salix alba (1829 AD), potent anti-cancer molecule Paclitaxal, from Taxus brevifolia (1971 AD), Camptothecin from Camptotheca acuminata (1966 AD) and Vincristine from Vinca rosea (1958 AD) etc.