Emeritus Professor Tony Smith has devoted his life to the study of plants and their uses in medicines.
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Our garden club spent an invaluable morning with him, learning about helpful medicinal plants through the ages. Our medicines fall into three categories: -
1. Prescription medicines which must be supervised by a professional.
2. Complementary medicines which are often derived from plants and are available over the counter.
3. Indigenous remedies. Because there is no written culture, it is not easy to get information.
Prescription medicines
Communities have turned to plants for treatments for centuries, until last century when medications started to be synthesised chemically. All early monasteries had their own herbariums and knowledge of medicinal herbs evolved over time. Some early examples are:
- Heart medication distilled from the leaves of foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) found to reduce fluid accumulation due to heart failure and still used in different forms today.
- Quinine plant. The bark was found to be used by Peruvians for prevention of Malaria.
Complementary medicines
Use of these has exploded over the last few years for “non serious conditions”. Knowledge for the use of these is often historical.
All new complementary or herbal products are reviewed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for safety and quality but efficacy is NOT assessed. Some examples of complementary medicines are;
- Valerian. Some evidence of help with sleep.
- St John’s Wort (Hypericum). Can be effective for anxiety or mild depression.
- Echinacea. Reputed to help the immune system, but Tony is not impressed with the evidence.
Indigenous Remedies
With no documentary record it is difficult for researchers to gather information. Historically there have been about 40,000 years of learning about native medicinal plants.
One text called “Traditional Bush Medicine” was published in 1988 by Indigenous people from Northern Territory with the Dept of Health. Some examples of these plant remedies are : -
- Duboisia hopwoodii or Pitjun (indig.) It is chewed and absorbed from the inside of the mouth. After many years study the active ingredient was found to be nicotine! It is still grown and used widely by indigenous people today to prevent motion sickness.
- Eucalyptus and Tea Tree oil have become mainstream and there is good evidence for their efficacy.
More research continues into traditional medicines.
CAUTION: Patients MUST notify their Doctor if taking complementary medicines because they can interact negatively with prescription medicines.