About the Plant World

In reviewing alternative cancer remedies, the primary emphasis is on plants and herbs, where the baseline authority is Hartwell (1982), cited on numerous occasions. Hartwell, who was a chemist with the NCI, tracked cancer folklore back to the beginnings of recorded history. The aforementioned volume consists of over 700 pages, with approximately 3000 species entries from 1430 genera in 214 different plant families. 

For an introduction to the history of herbalogy and some of the early treatises, there is The Rodale Herb Book, edited by William H. Hylton (1974). In the Western world, it is noted that the impetus started during the Elizabethan Age, though herbal tradition started much earlier in China. More details are contained in Barbara Griggs Green Pharmacy The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine (1991), 

A problem with the medicinal use of plants and herbs is that substitutions can occur, inadvertently or on purpose, hi addition, the herbal activity of a given species may vary with the geographic location, the season, and sometimes even with the time of day. Furthermore, the bioactive substance will usually concentrate in a particular plant part, such as the leaf or root, although it may occur in a much lesser degree throughout the plant 

Another problem with plants and herbs is that there are many chemical constituents present, some of which are more bioactive than others. It becomes difficult or impossible to discern the action of each chemical constituent, which is compounded by the fact that the chemical compositions may vary from plant to plant, and from plant part to plant part, depending on a number of factors. Only if the pure compounds are isolated and tested can a consensus be reached. This is an argument in favor of synthetic drugs, in that quality control can be maintained, and controlled testing can be performed. All of these can become a monumental task. 

Interestingly, plants that are the most bioactive and potentially useful as medicines are usually also the most poisonous. The description poisonous and medicinal plants denotes this symbiosis. Among the more poisonous constituents is the class of nitrogenous compounds called alkaloids, some of which can be toxic in the extreme. 

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