Trends of Medicinal Plant Use over the Last 2000 Years in Central Europe.

ABSTRACT: Medicinal plant knowledge in Central Europe can be traced back from the present to antiquity, through written sources. Approximately 100 medicinal plant taxa have a history of continuous use. In this paper, we focus on use patterns over time and the link between historical and traditional uses with the current scientific evidence. We discuss our findings against the backdrop of changing eras and medicinal concepts. Based on use-records from totally 16 historical, popular and scientific herbals, we analyze how use categories of 102 medicinal plant taxa developed over time. Overall, 56 of the 102 taxa maintained continuous use throughout all time periods. For approximately 30% of the continuous uses, scientific evidence supporting their use exists, compared to 11% for recently added uses and

SUBMITTER: Dal Cero M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9823631 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature