Medicinal Plants Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on the Medicinal Plants lecture.

Medicinal Plants

Plants are active and ingenious chemists, some are nutritious, others are poisonous, hallucinogenic or therapeutic.

Ayurvedic medicine

A system of health care in India that predates modern medicine.

Martin de la Cruz

An Aztec healer who wrote the Badianus Manuscript.

Hippocrates

Known as the “Father of Medicine”, he used herbal remedies for disease.

Dioscorides

Roman physician, compiled medicinal information of over 600 plants in the De Materia Medica.

Doctrine of Signatures

A belief that the use of a plant can be recognized by certain “signatures” visible on the plant, that corresponded to human anatomy.

Liverwort

A plant that looked like a liver, and was used to treat liver ailments based on the Doctrine of Signatures.

Bloodwort

A plant whose red juice was used for blood disorders based on the Doctrine of Signatures.

Mandrake root

A plant thought to promote male virility and ensure conception based on the Doctrine of Signatures.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

A preventive and holistic type of medicine that aims to maintain balance and is tailored to the individual.

Mutual Accentuation

Combination of 2 herbs that have similar functions to accentuate their therapeutic effect in TCM.

Mutual Enhancement

2 substances with different functions, one of them enhances the function of the other in TCM.

Mutual Counteraction

Toxicity or side effect of one herb is neutralized by the other in TCM.

Mutual Suppression

One herb reduces the toxic effects of the other in TCM.

Mutual Antagonism

Each herb suppresses the function of the other in TCM.

Mutual Incompatibility

The combination of herbs is toxic where neither of the individual ones is in TCM.

Single Effect

Use of a single herb in TCM.

Secondary plant products

Chemical compounds plants manufacture to defend against herbivores and to discourage bacterial, fungal growth.

Alkaloids

A diverse group of compounds that contain nitrogen, are usually alkaline, and have a bitter taste.

Glycosides

Compounds that contain a sugar molecule (glucose) attached to the active component.

Cyanogenic glycosides

Glycosides that have cyanide (HCN).

Cardioactive glycosides

Glycosides that contain a steroid molecule as the active component and have an effect on heart muscle contraction.

Digitalis purpurea

A flowering plant known as foxglove, used to treat heart disease.

Digoxin

A cardioactive glycoside found in foxglove, can be cleared by the kidneys.

Digitoxin

A cardioactive glycoside found in foxglove, has a longer life, and is not cleared very well by kidneys.

Willow tree bark

Bark from willow (Salix species) used to treat gout, rheumatism, pain, fever.

Aspirin (salicylic acid)

A compound with anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, and analgesic properties.

Malaria

A disease carried by the Anopheles mosquito, symptoms include fever, chills, seizures, convulsions, coma and even death.

Quinine

An alkaloid in the cinchona tree bark used to treat malaria; it has fever-reducing properties.

Reserpine

A drug from Rauwolfia serpentina used in the treatment of hypertension and as a tranquilizer to treat schizophrenia.