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Kinds of Drugs
Drug Plants Drug Classification Drugs from
Roots Aconite Chichona Colchicum
Gentian Goldenseal
Ginseng Ipecac Jalap Licorice
Podophyllum
Rhubarb Squills Senega Valerian
Drugs from Bark Cascara Curare Quinine Slippery Elm
Drugs from Stems
& Wood
Ephedrine Guiacum Quassia Drugs from Leaves Aloe Belladonna
Cocaine Buchu Digitalis
Eucalyptus Hamamelis
Henbane
Hoarhound
Lobelia Pennyroyal
Senna Stramonium
Wormwood Drugs from Flowers Chamomile Hops Santonin
Drugs from Fruits &
Seeds Chaulmoogra Oil Colocynth
Cubebs Croton Oil
Nux Vomica Opium Psyllium
Strophanthus
Wormseed
Drugs from
Lower Plants Antibiotics Penicillin
Streptomycin Aureomycin
Chloromycetin Terramycin
Neomycin
Misc. Antibiotics Agar Ergot Kelp Lycopodium
Male Fern Insecticides & Rodenticides Pyrethrum
Rotenone Lonchocarpus
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Plants have been used from ancient times to attempt cures for diseases
and to relive physical suffering.
Ancient peoples all had acquired some knowledge of medicinal
plants. Oftentimes these primitive
attempts at medicine were based on superstition and speculation. Evil spirits in the body were thought to
be the cause of medical problems.
They could be driven out of the body through the use of poisonous or
disagreeable plant substances that rendered the body a disagreeable
habitat. Medicine men or women of a
tribe were usually charged with knowledge of such plants. The progress of medicine has often been
guided by the earlier observations and beliefs. Drug plants were always of especial interest. As early as 5,000 B.C. many drugs were in
use in China. Sanskrit writings testify
to methods of gathering and preparing drugs in these early times. The Babylonians, ancient Hebrews and
Assyrians were all familiar with medicinal plants. From Egypt there are records dating to 1,600 B.C. naming many
of the medicinal plants used by physicians of that period, among which myrr,
opium, cannabis, aloes, cassia and hemlock are prominent. The Greeks were familiar with many of the
drugs of today, evidenced by the works of Hippocrates, Theophrastus,
Aristotle and Pythagoras. The
supernatural element continued to remain prominent in their culture,
however. Only a few individuals were
thought able because of some special power to distinguish harmful from
valuable plants. This “rhizotomoi” or
root diggers were an important caste in ancient Greece. In Rome there was less interest in plants
that had healing powers. But by 77 BC
Dioscorides wrote in his treatise, “De Materia Medica,” dealing with the
nature and properties of all the medicinal substances known at that time. This work was highly esteemed for 15
centuries and to this day is valued in parts of Turkey and North Africa. Pliny and Galen also described the nature
of some drug plants (Hill 1952). Following the Dark Ages there began a period of the
encyclopedists and herbalists. The
monasteries of Northern Europe produced large compendiums of information
regarding plants, much of which was false.
They stressed the medicinal value and folklore of plants. About the same time there appeared a
“Doctrine of Signatures.” This
superstitious doctrine suggested that all plants possessed some sign, given
by the Creator, which indicated the use for which they were intended. A plant with heart-shaped leaves was good
for heart ailments; the liverleaf with its 3-lobed leaves was good for liver
problems, etc. Many of the common
names of plants owe their origin to this superstition. Names such as heartease, dogtooth violet,
Solomon’s seal and liverwort are examples.
Pharmacology and pharmacognosy owe their beginnings to the earlier
beliefs and knowledge about medicinal plants. The interest in medicinal plants was especially pronounced
among the early botanists who were often physicians. That branch of medical science dealing with the drug
plants themselves is known as Pharmacognosy. It is concerned with the history,
commerce, collection, selection, identification and preservation of crude
drugs and raw materials. The action
of drugs is Pharmacology. Worldwide there are several thousand
plants that have been and are still being used for medical purposes. Many of these are restricted in use by
native people who have long resided in any given area. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 in the United States has standardized most of the truly valuable drug plants. Such drugs are referred to as “official.” Details about these plants may be found at the United States Pharmacopoeia, the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia and the National Formulary, and various other sources in the United States and Europe. Very few drug plants are
cultivated. Most of the drug supply
is from wild plants growing in different parts of the world, especially in
tropical areas. These drug plants are
collected and prepared in a crude way for shipment. They eventually reach the centers of the drug trade and are
processed. Sometimes a country has
built up a monopoly of some particular drug.
For example, Japan used to control the export of camphor, agar and
pyrethrum, while the Dutch in Java supplied almost all the Quinine (Chichona) for world trade. From 1920-1930 the importation of crude
drugs increased 140 percent. Most of
the processing of the crude material was carried out in the United
States. Additionally, several drugs
are produced in the United States either from wild or cultivated
sources. These include ginseng,
goldenseal, digitalis, cascara, wormseed and hemp. When there are shortages additional plants grown are henbane,
belladonna and stramonium. A plant’s medicinal value is due to the presence in its
tissues of some chemical substance or substances that produce a physiological
action on the body. Most important
are the alkaloids, compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. Glucosides, essential oils, fatty oils,
resins, mucilages, tannins and gums are all utilized. Some of these are powerful poisons so that
the preparation and administering of them should be entirely supervised by
physicians. Many methods have been proposed to classify drugs and
drug plants. Classifications can be based
on the chemical nature or the therapeutic value of the plant product, the
natural affinities of the various species or the morphology of the plant
organ from which the drug is obtained.
Hill (1952) proposed a morphological basis of classification. Generally it is found that the active
principles are present in the storage organs of the plants, especially in
roots and seeds, and less in leaves, bark, wood or other plant parts. The amount of the chemical substances
present in any specific organ is so small that it is difficult to give any
biological significance to it. There
may be some slight protective function, but most likely the action that is
valuable to humans in the treatment of disease are merely waste products of
plant metabolism. This is obtained from the tuberous roots of the
monkshood, Aconitum napellus.
Although poisonous, its use in medicine is comparatively recent. The plant is a native of the Pyrenees,
Alps and other mountainous regions of Asia and Europe. It is cultivated in temperate regions both
as an ornamental and as a drug plant.
Most of the commercial supply is from Europe. At first the leaves and flowering shoots
were utilized, but later only the roots were used. These are collected in the autumn and dried. Aconitine is the most important of the
several alkaloids that are present.
It is used externally for neuralgia and arthritis, and internally to relieve
fever and pain. Dried corms of the meadow saffron, Colchicum
autumnale, are the source of colchicum.
It is a perennial tulip like herb of Europe and Northern Africa. It possesses an alkaloid, colchicine, which is used in the treatment of
arthritis and gout. Fresh roots seeds
are also used to some extent.
Colchicine has the ability to double the chromosomes in genetics
studies. Gentian (Bitterroot) Gentiana lutea is a tall perennial herb with
striking orange-yellow flowers.
Gentian is common in the mountains of Central Europe. The rhizomes and roots are dug out in the
fall, sliced and dried. They contain
several glucosides that are valuable as a tonic for they can be used with
iron salts. Goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis, was formerly common
in the woods of Eastern North America.
The Amerindians and European settlers used it as a remedy. The plant has been cultivated in the
Pacific Northwest and North Caroline for it was almost exterminated as a wild
plant. The roots and rhizomes contain
several alkaloids that may be used as a tonic and for the treatment of
catarrh and other inflamed mucous membranes. Ginseng has been used in China since ancient times,
where it is used to cure an array of diseases. True ginseng, Panax schinseng, is a plant of Eastern
Asia and this was once the only source of the drug. However, the demand became so great that large quantities of
American ginseng, Panax quinquefolium, have been grown in recent
years, and by 2003 Wisconsin led the production. In America ginseng is used as a stimulant and stomachic. These are small shrubby plants in humid forests of the
Neotropics. Several species are the
source of this well-known drug, but the main source consists of the dried rhizome
and roots of Cephaelis ipecacuanha.
The main ingredient is Emetin, a white,
bitter, colorless alkaloid. Ipecac is
used as a diaphoretic emetic and expectorant. It is valuable in the treatment of amoebic dysentery and
pyorrhea. This is a resinous drug obtained from the tubers of Exogonium
purya, a twining, morning glory-like vine of the woodlands of eastern
Mexico. The plant has been cultivated
in Mexico, Jamaica and India. The
roots are collected and dried over fires.
Jalap is used as a purgative. This is a product that is known from ancient
times. The plant, Glycyrrhiza
glabra, is a perennial herb that grows wild in Southern Europe and
Western and Central Asia. It is also
cultivated in many parts of the same area.
The largest producer of cultivated licorice root has been Spain. The roots are dried in sheds for several
months and are shipped in cylindrical pieces. Licorice is used in medicine as a demulcent and expectorant and
to disguise the flavor of medicinal preparations. However, most of the supply is used as a flavoring material in
the tobacco and candy industries and in the manufacture of shore polish. There are also many other industrial uses
for licorice. It has a compound,
glycyrrhizin, that is 50-times sweeter than sugar. A solution of it can be used for etching steel sections in
photomicrographic work; and a substance is made from the waste root that
foams readily and is used by brewers to give a head to beer. The fibers can be made into wallboard and
boxboard under the name of “Maftex”.
It gives an insulating material and is made into Jacquard cards that
are used for controlling the designs in the weaving of tapestries and other
figured materials. Roots of the Mandrake or May Apple, Podophyllum pellatum, yield the
drug podophyllum, which has been used in rural eastern United States
as an emetic and cathartic. The
commercial supply of this widespread plant is southern Appalachia where it is
collected wild or cultivated. Roots
are collected in the autumn or spring and are cut into cylindrical segments
and carefully dried. They contain a
resin that is the source of the cathartic.
East Indian podophyllum is obtained from Podopjhyllum emodi from
the Himalayas. Two native shrubs of China and Tibet are the sources of
the drug form of rhubarb: Rheum
officinale and R. palmatum. These plants are similar to the garden
rhubarb but grow to a much larger size.
They have been extensively cultivated in China. The rhizomes and roots are dug and cut
into short pieces or slices. These
are threaded on a string and dried in the sun or in kilns. Rhubarb is used as a tonic and laxative
and for indigestion. East Indian
rhubarb is from Rheum emodi. The white variety of sea onion,
Urginea maritima, is the source of squills. The plant is native of the seacoasts of the Mediterranean and
has come under cultivation. The bulbs
are dug up and the outer scales removed.
The fleshy inner scales are then sliced and dried. Several glucosides are present. The drug is used as an expectorant and
stimulant. A red variety contains
toxic substances that render it useful as a raticide. Senega snakeroot or milkwort,
Polygala senega, is a small herbaceous perennial of Eastern North
America. It is the source of a
glucosidal drug obtained from the dried roots. The common name was derived because Senega or Seneca Indians
used the plant as a cure for snakebites.
Senega is used as an expectorant, emetic and stimulant.
Dried rhizomes and roots of the garden heliotrope, Valeriana
officinalis, furnish valerian.
Native to Eurasia, it has long been cultivated in the United States as
an ornamental. It contains an
essential oil that is used to relieve nervous afflictions, pain, coughing and
hysteria. Of North American origin, cascara is obtained from the
reddish-brown bark of the western buckthorn, Rhammus purshiana, a tree
of the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada. It was used by the Amerindians of the west
and by the pioneer Spanish settlers who called it cascara sagrada, ors sacred
bark. The bark is peeled in long strips
during the summer and dried on racks.
It is stored for a year before being used as a tonic and laxative. Amerindians of Northern South America have long used a
variety of poisonous extracts from various woody lianas as poisons. The identification of the constituent
plant materials in curare is difficult because the sources vary from place to
place. Strychnas toxifera, Chondodendron
tomentosum and species of Abuta and Cocculus, as well as
other species, have been used. New sources
appear with continued explorations in the vast region. In the preparation of curare portions of
the bark, roots, stems and tendrils are boiled down, the impurities skimmed
off and the residue filtered.
Catalytic agents are added and the whole mass is boiled to syrup. This is exposed to the sun and dried to a
paste that is kept in tightly covered gourds or bamboo tubes. Curare can cause progressive paralysis and eventual
cardiac failure. These lethal effects
are due to several alkaloids. One of
these, curarine, has now been available to medicine for use in shock therapy,
and as an ideal muscle relaxant.
Curarine is also used for chronic spastic conditions, in surgical
operations and tetanus and as a powerful sedative. One of the most important of all drugs, quinine has
been a boon to mankind because it is the only adequate cure for malaria. Although some synthetic products are available,
they only complement quinine and are not substitutes for it. Quinine is obtained from the hard thick
bark of several species of the genus Cinchona, evergreeen trees of the
Andes of South America. Chinchona
calisaya, C. officinalis, C. ledgeriana and C.
succccirubra are the principal species that have been used. The Amerindians were familiar with chinchona bark. The first use of the drug by Europeans was
in 1638 when, according to tradition, the Countess of Cinchon, wife of the
Viceroy of Peru, was cured of malaria after all other remedies failed (Hill
1952). Although a story of doubtful
accuracy, nevertheless the Jesuits were familiar with the use of the bark and
carried it with them in their world travels.
Very soon Jesuit’s bark or Peruvian bark was in great demand. The supply at first seemed inexhaustible
but diminished under the wasteful methods of collection. The trees were felled and the bark
stripped off and dried in the open or over fires in huts. It soon became evident that only
cultivation would guarantee the supply.
Both the Dutch and the English sent collectors to South America, but
the Andean natives guarded the remnants of the cinchona forests with great
zeal. However, despite the hostility
a few seedlings and seeds were finally brought out of the area and became the
basis of the great plantations of Java and India. Few tropical crops have been studied more intensively. All phases of cinchona production: breeding, culture, harvesting and
processing were investigated.
Eventually the Dutch developed a virtual monopoly, producing 95
percent of the world’s supply. The
Amerindian output was reduced to local consumption. As the amount of bark produced was regulated in order
to maintain high prices, attempts were made beginning in 1934 to establish a
cinchona industry in the Western Hemisphere.
An experimental plantation was begun in Guatemala and by the beginning
of World War II a substantial mass of data and a nursery of superior clones
from all parts of the world was available.
When the East Indian supplies were cut off because of the war, the
United States instituted an extensive program of cinchona procurement in the
Neotropics, utilizing all available wild stands and developing new
plantations. Several promising new
sources were discovered, among them Cinchona pitayensis, a species
that gave very high yields. From
1942-1945 exports of cinchona and quinine from the Neotropics increased from
207,000 to over seven million pounds, with Ecuador and Peru being the main
producers. Cinchona bark is removed from cultivated trees by
uprooting them when they are about 12 years old and stripping off the bark
from both the stems and roots or by cutting the trunks above ground and
stripping the felled portion. In the
latter case adventitious roots develop and later the bark is removed from
these in long quills. The most
important constituent of cinchona bark is quinine. This is a very bitter, white, granular substance. In addition to its use in the treatment of
malaria, it is valuable as a tonic and antiseptic and in the treatment of
fevers. Over 29 other alkaloids have
been isolated from the bark, including cinchonidine, cinchonine, and
quinidine. All of these are useful in
medicine. Totaquina is a standard
mixture of all of these alkaloids. The inner bark
of the slippery elm, Ulmus rubra, is the source of this drug. The bark of this Eastern North American
tree is removed in the spring and the outer layers are discarded while the
inner portion is dried. The bark has
a very characteristic odor. It
contains mucilage and is used for its soothing effect on inflamed tissues,
either in the crude state or in the form of lozenges.
This is an alkaloid from the Asiatic Ephedra sinica. E.
equisetina and other species of the same genus. These shrubs are low growing, dioecious, leafless with slender
green stems. The drug is extracted
from the entire woody plant. In China
the drug is known as “ma huang” for 5,000
years. In modern times it has been
used in the treatment of colds, asthma, hay fever and other medical purposes. This is a hard resin that exudes naturally from the
stems of the lignum vitae trees, Guaiacum offininale and G. sanctum. It hardens into round, glassy
greenish-brown tears. It is acquired
from incisions, from the cut ends of logs or from pieces of the wood. Gum guaiac is used as a stimulant and
laxative. It is also a good indicator
of oxygen in the air. Lignum vitae,
or Ironwood, trees are evergreens native to the West Indies and other
Neotropical regions. There are two different sources for quassia. Jamaican quassia, Picrasma excelsa,
is a tall tree of the West Indies and Surinam quassia, Quassia amara,
grows in the Neotropics and West Indies.
The latter is also a valuable timber tree with lustrous,
yellowish-white fine-grained wood.
Quassia is transported in the form of billets, and the drug is extracted
by preparing an effusion of chips or shavings. It is very bitter to the taste and is used as a tonic and in
the treatment of dyspepsia and malaria.
It is also an insecticide. Oleoresins Please refer to Balsams
and Oleoresins for
additional medicines obtained from stems and wood. Aloes are obtained from several different sources. Curacao or Barbados aloes are from Aloe
barbadensis of the West Indies, Socotrine aloes from Aloe perryi
of East Africa and Cape aloes from A. ferox of South Africa. These are tropical and subtropical fleshy
plants with showy flowers. The leaves
contain a resinous juice with several glucosides. The juice slowly exudes from cut leaves placed in
containers. It is evaporated in pans
to a thick, viscous black mass that may be solidified. Aloes have been used as purgatives and as
additions to skin salves. They seem
to aid in the healing process of wounds. [see Pictures] Atropa belladonna is the source of this old and
important drug. The dried leaves and tops
and to some degree the roots contain the drug. The plant is a coarse perennial herb, native to Central and
Southern Europe and Asia Minor. It is
cultivated as a drug plant in the United States, India and Europe. Leaves are collected during the flowering
season and dried. They contain
several alkaloids among which hyoscyamine and atropine are most
important. Belladonna is used
externally to relieve pain and internally to curb excessive perspiration and
coughs. Atropine is used to dilate
the pupil of the eye and as an antidote for organophosphorus insecticide
poisoning. Leaves of the coca shrub, Erythroxylon coca, and
related species contain cocaine.
Native to Bolivia and Peru, the plant is cultivated in South America
where the leaves are used as a masticatory.
It is also grown in Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Java. The leaves mature in about four years when
they are picked 3-4 times a year.
They are carefully dried and shipped in bales. The have a bitter aromatic taste. About 100 pounds of leaves yields one
pound of the drug. Cocaine has been
used as a local anesthetic and as a tonic for digestion and treatment of nervous
conditions. It is addictive when used
habitually. Some evidence suggests
that cocaine was used in Ancient Egypt (see Mummy). The dried leaves of the shrubs Barosma betulina,
B. serratifolia and B. crenulata contain the drug buchu. It grows in the dry mountainous parts of
South Africa. The active ingredient
is an essential oil that is used to disinfect and to stimulate excretion and
also in the treatment of indigestion and urinary disorders. Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea
is native in Southern and Central Europe and has been used to treat disorders
of the heart. The dried leaves are
dried for use. It contains a
glucoside, digitoxin. Its action
improves the tone and rhythm of the heart beats thereby making contractions
more powerful and complete. As a
result more blood is sent from the heart, which aids circulation and improves
body nutrition and hastens waste elimination. The mature leaves of the blue gum, Eucalyptus
globulus, contain an essential oil that is used in medicine. The tree can reach a height of 300 ft. in
its native Australia. It was once
extensively cultivated in California, Florida and the Mediterranean area. There was some belief that eucalyptus
trees aid in eliminating malaria in countries where they are planted. Their extensive root system may play a
role in drying-out mosquito breeding habitats. Eucalyptus oil is obtained from the dried leaves. It is used in
the treatment of throat and nose disorders, malaria and other fevers. The colorless oil is yellow with a unique
pungent odor. Witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, is a shrub of
Eastern North America. The dried
leaves are gathered in southern Appalachia.
However, in New England the bark, twigs and sometimes the entire plant
are utilized. The active principle is
tannin that is extracted with water and steam and distilled. Alcohol is added to the distillate in a
ratio of about one part alcohol to seven parts distillate. Witch hazel is used as an astringent and
to curtail bleeding. Henbane, Hyoscyamus niger, is a coarse smelly
herb native to Europe and Asia. It
has assumed weed status in other parts of the world. The drug is usually obtained in Europe, but
during the World Wars the plant was cultivated in the United States. The leaves and flower tops contain several
poisonous alkaloids: hyoscyamine and
scopolamine. Henbane is used as a
sedative and hypnotic. It acts in a
similar manner to belladonna and stramonium, but is less powerful. Native to Central Asia and Europe hoarhound, Marrubium
vulgare, has become naturalized in America where it is also
cultivated. It is a small herbaceous
perennial with white flowers in dense axillary whorls. Dried leaves and flower tops are used
medicinally. Hoarhound is used as an
infusion or in the form of candy or lozenges. It once was a favorite remedy for breaking up colds and has
been used for arthritis, dyspepsia and other ailments. The Indian tobacco, Lobelia inflata, is the
source of this drug that is secured from the dried leaves and tops of wild or
cultivated plants. It is a small
North American annual with many blue flowers in leafy terminal racemes. It is also one of the few poisonous plants
in North America. An alkaloid in
lobelia is used as an expectorant, antispasmodic and emetic. Amerindians knew its properties. Some evidence suggests that tobacco was
used in Ancient Egypt (see Mummy). Pennyroyal, Hedeoma pulegioides, is a small
aromatic annual found in poor soil in the eastern United States. An essential oil that it contains is
derived from the dried leaves and tops of the plant. It has had some use in internal
medicine. It has been an ingredient
in liniments because of a counterirritant action. However, its main use was as an insect repellent. Senna is an ancient drug that is obtained from dried
leaflets and pods of several species of Cassia that are indigenous to
arid regions in Egypt and Arabia.
Alexandrian senna is from Cassia acutifolia and East Indian or Tinnavelly
senna is from C. angustifolia.
Both species are cultivated in India.
Leaves are picked, dried in the sun and baled. Senna is used as a purgative. Thorn apple or Jimson weed, Datura stramonium, is the
source of stramonium. The plant is
highly poisonous and occurs worldwide although its origin was thought to be
in Asia. However, Amerindians knew of
its narcotic properties. It has been
cultivated in Europe and the United States.
The drug is extracted from the dried leaves and flowering tops. The active principles are alkaloids that
include hyoscyamine, atropine and scopolamine. The drug has been used as a substitute for belladonna for
relaxing the bronchial muscles in asthma treatment. It has also been used in Asia for its narcotic effects. A perennial plant of Northern Asia, Northern Africa and
Europe, wormwood, Artemisia absinthium, is the source of an essential oil
obtained by steam distillation from dried leaves and tops of the plant. The greenish liquid has been used in
liniments. Over dosage can result in
deleterious consequences. Its principal
use is to flavor the liqueur absinthe, the use of which is prohibited in some
countries. Absinthe contains other
aromatics as well as wormwood. The
plant has been grown in Oregon and Michigan. Chamomile, Matricaria chamomilla, is a Eurasian
daisy like plant that has become cultivated in many places. The dried flower heads contain an
essential oil infusions of which are used as tonics and gastric stimulants. The flower heads of the Russian or garden
chamomile, Anthemis nobilis, are used for similar purposes but also in
poultices for bruises, sprains and arthritis. The hop plant, Humulus lupulus, is native of the
north temperate regions of Eurasia and America. The plant was known to the
Romans and has been grown in parts of Europe since the 9th Century (Hill
1952). Hops are extensively
cultivated in the United States, Europe, South America and Australia. It is a climbing herb with perennial
roots. These send up several rough,
weak, angular stems with deeply lobed leaves and dioecious flowers. The female flowers are found in scaly,
cone like catkins that are covered with glandular hairs. They contain resin and various bitter,
aromatic and narcotic principles, mainly lupulin. The hop plants are trained on poles or trellises. Harvest is in the early autumn. The catkins are carefully picked out dried
in kilns at 70 deg. Fahrenheit or lower.
They are treated with sulfur and baled for shipment. Hops are used in medicine for their
sedative and soporific properties and also as a tonic. They have been used also in
poultices. However, their principal
use is in the brewing industry. Hops
are added to beer to prevent bacterial action and decomposition, and also to
improve the flavor. The Levant wormseed, Artemisia cina,
contains a valuable drug known as santonin derived from the dried unopened
flower heads. This is a small semi
shrubby perennial of Western Asia.
Most of the supply has come from Turkestan, although the species has
been grown in the Northwestern United States. This drug is a good remedy for intestinal worms and has been
used for this purpose for centuries.
It was introduced into Europe during the Crusades.
Natives of Burma and other
parts of Southeastern Asia have used the seeds and oil from the chaulmoogra
tree, Hydnocarpus kurzii, and related species to treat skin
diseases. Thus, in a quest for a
treatment for leprosy it was found at the University of Hawaii that the oil
from these trees had certain acids the ethyl esters of which were productive
in treating leprosy. These tall trees grow in dense jungles and bear velvety fruits
with several large seeds. These
contain fatty oil with a characteristic odor and acrid taste. The expressed oil is a brownish-yellow
liquid or soft solid. The bitter apple, Citrullus
colocynthis, has a spongy pulp that when dried is the source of the
glucosidal drug colocynth. The plant
is native to warm parts of Africa and Asia, but has been distributed
worldwide and cultivated in the Mediterranean area. The fruits resemble oranges, and the rind is removed while the
white bitter pulp is dried and shipped in balls. It is a powerful purgative. The dried unripe fruits of Piper cubeda are
called cubebs. It is a climbing vine
of Malaya and eastern India, and it is cultivated in Thailand, Java, Sri
Lanka and the West Indies. The
berries look a lot like black pepper, but they are stalked. They have a warm, butter aromatic flavor
and a strong odor from the presence of an oleoresin. Cubebs are used to treat catarrh and as a
kidney stimulant. They have also been
used as a condiment or spice. The dried ripe seeds of Croton tiglium contains
the fatty croton oil. It is a shrub
or small tree of Southeastern Asia, but is also cultivated in Sri Lanka and
India. Croton oil is a
yellowish-brown liquid with a burning taste and offensive odor. It is one of the most powerful of
purgatives. The flowers and crushed
leaves are used in India to poison fish. This is a
valuable drug obtained from the seeds of Strychnos nux-vomica, a tree
native to India, Sri Lanka, Cochin China and Australia. The large fruits contain from 3-5 grayish
seeds that are very hard and bitter.
Ripe seeds have two important alkaloids: strychnine and bucine. Nux vomica is used as a tonic and
stimulant; strychnine is used in small doses to treat nervous disorders and
paralysis. Its properties have been
known back in the 16th Century. Opium One of the most useful and yet vicious drugs, opium
is derived from the dried juice or latex of unripe capsules of the opium
poppy, Papaver somniferum. The
poppy is an annual with showy white flowers.
Native to Western Asia, it is no found in most countries as a
weed. It has been cultivated
extensively in China, India, Asia Minor, the Balkans and elsewhere. Following petal fall the capsules are
incised with a knife and the white latex exudes and soon hardens in the
air. It is scraped off and shaped
into balls or cakes, which are often wrapped in the poppy petals. Crude opium is a brownish material
containing as many as 25 alkaloids, the most important and most powerful
being morphine and codeine. Due to
the narcotic and sedative action opium and its derivatives are used to
relieve pain, relax spasms and induce sleep. Commercial psyllium is the seed of several of the
fleaworts, Asiatic and European species of plantain, which are cultivated in
France, Spain and India. French
psyllium is Plantago indica, Spanish psyllium is P. psyllium,
and blonde psyllium, the East Indian product, is P. ovata. Psyllium seed contains a tasteless
mucilaginous substance that acts as a mild laxative and is comparable to agar
and mineral oil for use in chronic constipation. The extracted mucilage is used as a cosmetic and in stiffening
fabrics. The dried ripe seeds of Strophanthus kombe and S.
hispidus are the source of the drug strophanthus that is used as a heart
stimulant. The plants are woody
climbers of African forests. The
active principles include the glucoside strophanthin and a few
alkaloids. Another species,
Strophanthus sarmentosus??, has a substance that can be transformed into
cortisone. American wormseed, Chenopodium ambrosioides var.
anthelminticum is native to South and Central America and the West
Indies, but has become naturalized in the United States. It has also been cultivated in many areas
for its natural oil. The oil is
obtained by distillation from the fruits and is used in the treatment of hookworm infections. These are substances produced mainly by certain
harmless microorganisms that deter the growth and activity of various
pathogenic bacteria. Antibiotics were
not considered of importance until 1939 although they had been known
previously. Since this time extensive
investigations were carried out and a considerable number have been isolated
and their therapeutic action studied.
Molds, actinomycetes and bacteria are the chief sources, although
antibiotics are also present in higher plants.
Best know of the antibiotics
is penicillin. It was accidentally
discovered in 1929 and reexamined in 1937.
Soon it was recognized as an extremely valuable substance for
combating staphylococcus, streptococcus and gas gangrene infections. It is acquired mainly from Penicillium
notatum, a blue-green mold that occurs in floccose masses with a white
margin. In gelatin substrate the
mycelium excretes penicillin turning all to liquid. The crude penicillin is recovered, purified and
dehydrated. It is an organic acid and
readily forms salts and esters.
Superior strains that yield greater quantities of the drug were
developed. Other species of Penicillium,
particularly P. chrysogonum, also produce the antibiotic. Penicillin is highly selective in its action
and is effective against gram-positive bacteria. It is nontoxic and particularly useful in the treatment of
bacterial endocarditis, gonorrhea, mastoiditis, local infections and certain
types of pneumonia. Streptomyces griseus furnishes
this antibiotic. It was first
isolated in 1944 after a worldwide project testing soils. The organism is an actinomycete and is
grown in deep submerged cultures.
Streptomycin is especially effective against gram-negative bacteria
and is used in the treatment of tularemia, empyema, urinary and local
infections and some forms of tuberculosis, peritonitis, meningitis and
pneumonia. Streptomyces aureofaciens,
which was isolated in 1948 from soil, produces aureomycin. It is more versatile than penicillin or
streptomycin by attacking not only gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria,
but also the Rickettsiae, which had previously been immune to chemical
assault. It has been used to combat
forms of virus pneumonia, osteomyelitis, undulant fever, whooping cough and
eye infections and where the patient has developed resistance to the other
antibiotics or to sulfa drugs.
Aureomycin is also a growth-producing substance. This is a pure crystalline substance produced by Streptomyces
venezuelae. It was isolated in
1948 after a search that involved the worldwide study of thousands of soil
samples. It may also be produced
synthetically. Chloromycetin, like
aureomycin, is effective against the Rickettsiae. It is useful in the treatment of undulant fever, bacillary
urinary infections, primary atypical pneumonia, typhus fever, typhoid fever,
scrub typhus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and parrot fever. Terramycin is secreted by Streptomyces rimosus
that was isolated from a piece of soil in Indiana after an exhaustive search
involving many thousands of soil samples.
It is valuable in treating common forms of pneumonia, typhoid fever,
streptococcic and many intestinal and urinary tract infections. It is also effective against gram-positive
and gram-negative bacteria, Rickettsiae and large viruses. It is somewhat different in therapeutic
action from the other antibiotics. |