The medicinal properties of plants

Plants have been used medicinally, all round the world, for thousands of years. The initial lecture in this course will examine the long history of mankind’s medicinal use of plants, most of it in times preceding the development of chemistry and our modern scientific methods. Crucially there was little or no knowledge of exactly how (mode of action) a plant helped to alleviate the symptoms of disease – medicine was a matter of faith.

Modern medicines include thousands of chemical compounds for which the mode of action is relatively clear cut. While some of these originate in the laboratory, a large percentage are derived from plant-based chemicals. Most are now produced synthetically but some are still harvested from whole plants or tissue culture.

Without going into complicated chemical details, the course will show how certain plant compounds can be used in a range of medicines including ones which alleviate pain, cure cancer, slow the progress of dementia, help treat depression and prevent cardio-vascular disease.

The final session will be a visit to the famous Cambridge Botanic Garden where we will examine a range of medicinal plants from many different countries; some in the wonderful glasshouses, others in the outdoor flower beds. The importance of such collections as potential sources of future medicines will be emphasised.