European Plants as Sources of Effective Medicines

Since prehistoric times, humans have attempted to alleviate ailments or injuries with the aid of plant parts or herbal preparations. Ancient civilizations have recorded various prescriptions of this kind. In the herbal formularies of medieval times numerous plants were promoted as remedies. In modern medicine, where each drug is required to satisfy objective criteria of ef cacy, few of the hundreds of reputedly curative plant species have survived as drugs with documented effectiveness. Presented below are some examples from local old-world floras that were already used in prescientific times and that contain substances that to this day are employed as important drugs. 

The deadly nightshade of middle Europe (Atropa belladonna, a solanaceous herb)1 contains the alkaloids atropine, in all its parts, and scopolamine, in smaller amounts. The effects of this drug were already known in antiquity e. g., pupillary 

1 This name reflects the poisonous property of the plant Atropos was the one of the three Fates (moirai) who cut the thread of life. 

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