It consists of the dried underground parts of Valeriana officinalis, Family: Valerianaceae. Commercial Importance One of the top selling sedatives in Europe, valerian was a much esteemed root both for its medicinal uses and as a spice and perfume. It is one of the 10 most popular medicinal plants in North America. Valerian preparations are widely…
Used as medicine since times immemorial, this widely revered drug created international trade by the 3rd century AD, when China’s demand for ginseng allowed it to exchange its silk and medicine with Korea for wild ginseng. By the 1900s the demand for ginseng outstripped the available wild supply and Korea began the commercial cultivation of…
For about 2,000 years, the roots of P. ginseng have held an honoured place in Chinese medicine. Revered for its strength-giving and rejuvenating powers, the drug was used in the treatment of anaemia, diabetes, insomnia, neurasthenia, gastritis and sexual impotence. North American Indians used ginseng in many of their herbal formulas. The widespread use of ginseng is…
Ginseng contains a complex mixture of triterpenoid saponin glycosides, which are either tetra-cyclic triterpenes based on steroidal skeleton or pentacyclic triterpenoids structurally related to oleanolic acid. Termed ginsenosides by Japanese workers and panaxosides by the Russian researchers, these are derivatives of two main aglycones, protopanaxadiol and protopanaxatriol. Over 30 ginsenosides have been characterized from different…
Ginseng plants are perennial herbs growing to a height of 50 cm and having corpulent roots resembling human form. P. ginseng is typically a shade-preferring plant exclusively growing under forest shade without the durable impact of direct sunshine. Ginseng was formerly a wild plant growing in the northeastern part of China and northern Korean peninsula. At present…
P. ginseng is collected from cultivated plants in China, Korea and Japan. Also called Asian ginseng it is indigenous to the mountainous forests of eastern Asia. P. quinquifolium called American Ginseng grows in rich woods in eastern USA and Canada. It is collected from cultivated stands and has been exported to China since the early 1700s. It…
It consists of the roots of panax ginsing (Araliaceae) and related species such as P. quinquifolium and P. notoginseng. Commercial Importance One of the most ancient drugs of China, ginseng is considered a universal medication in oriental medicine. It has been used for centuries as a tonic, a stimulant to overcome physical and mental fatigue and to counter many conditions…
The major digitalis producing countries are the United States, UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and the former USSR. In most of these countries D. lanata is the source drug. Some 1,000 tonnes of plant material are required annually to meet the world demand. In the long term patients require about 1 mg per day and the worldwide…
Foxglove leaves are claimed to be used externally by Welsh physicians and its poisonous nature was well known. It has been recorded to be used by a ‘witch’ healer for the treatment of dropsy. Though introduced into the London pharmacoepia in 1650, it was with William Withering’s published clinical findings in 1776 that it came…
The cardioactive glycoside content of D. purpurea leaves is 0.15% to 0.4% consisting of about 30 different structures. The fresh leaves contain purpurea glycoside A (50% of the glycoside mixture), purpurea glycoside B and glucogitaloxin. These possess at the C-3 position of the aglycone a linear chain of three digitoxose sugar moieties terminated by glucose. On drying, due…