A Brief History of Herbs

Since the origins of mankind, plants have been used for nourishments.  There is evidence in all corners of the earth on use of plants. In the animal kingdom, animals would seek out certain plants innately when they were ill.  In earlier times the effects of certain plants was passed on from generation to generation.  Over the centuries each generation would add its own knowledge.  By trial and error, man discovered how these plants would affect the body, even finding those that were poisonous.

The oldest herb in history may be Ginkgo Biloba.  It can be traced to fossils found from the Paleozoic era.  An ancient Babylonian burial site unearthed preserved medicinal herbs, with some thought to be over 60,000 years old.  Morphine was refined from the poppy seed.  Black Cohosh was used for women’s menstrual symptoms.  Aloe Vera can be traced back to 1500 BC from Egyptian writings.

Over 5000 years ago the Sumerians of Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) had the first written records of herbs that were used as medicine.  About the same time or even earlier, China and India were using herbs for healing.  Chi’en Nung, a Chinese emperor, wrote a book on medicinal plants called Pen Tsao.  One of the herbs mentioned in his book was Ma Huang, which Western scientist has derived as the drug ephedrine.

Scared writings from India called the Vedas date back to the 2nd century BC. 
A book of herbs called the Materia Medica, listed over 500 medicinal plants indigenous to India.  The Indian system of medicine was called Ayuveda which means “science of life” and is still practiced today.