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46-559: Humans eat thousands of plant species; there may be as many as 75,000 edible species of angiosperms , of which perhaps 7,000 are often eaten. Edible plants found in nature include flowers , seeds , berries , seaweed , and cacti . Being able to identify the versions of these plants that are safe to eat is an important survival skill . Some fungi , including certain types of mushrooms , are also edible. Many animals are also edible, including domesticated livestock as well as wild insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Advocates of

92-516: A granny cure ) is a treatment to cure a disease or ailment that employs certain spices, herbs , vegetables, or other common items. Home remedies may or may not have medicinal properties that treat or cure the disease or ailment in question, as they are typically passed along by laypersons (which has been facilitated in recent years by the Internet ). Many are merely used as a result of tradition or habit or because they are effective in inducing

138-1993: A molecular phylogeny of plants placed the flowering plants in their evolutionary context: Bryophytes [REDACTED] Lycophytes [REDACTED] Ferns [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The main groups of living angiosperms are: Amborellales [REDACTED] 1 sp. New Caledonia shrub Nymphaeales [REDACTED] c. 80 spp. water lilies & allies Austrobaileyales [REDACTED] c. 100 spp. woody plants Magnoliids [REDACTED] c. 10,000 spp. 3-part flowers, 1-pore pollen, usu. branch-veined leaves Chloranthales [REDACTED] 77 spp. Woody, apetalous Monocots [REDACTED] c. 70,000 spp. 3-part flowers, 1 cotyledon , 1-pore pollen, usu. parallel-veined leaves   Ceratophyllales [REDACTED] c. 6 spp. aquatic plants Eudicots [REDACTED] c. 175,000 spp. 4- or 5-part flowers, 3-pore pollen, usu. branch-veined leaves Amborellales Melikyan, Bobrov & Zaytzeva 1999 Nymphaeales Salisbury ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Austrobaileyales Takhtajan ex Reveal 1992 Chloranthales Mart. 1835 Canellales Cronquist 1957 Piperales von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Magnoliales de Jussieu ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Laurales de Jussieu ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Acorales Link 1835 Alismatales Brown ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Petrosaviales Takhtajan 1997 Dioscoreales Brown 1835 Pandanales Brown ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Liliales Perleb 1826 Asparagales Link 1829 Arecales Bromhead 1840 Poales Small 1903 Zingiberales Grisebach 1854 Commelinales de Mirbel ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine ) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within

184-442: A woody stem ), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of broad-leaved trees , shrubs and vines , and most aquatic plants . Angiosperms are distinguished from the other major seed plant clade, the gymnosperms , by having flowers , xylem consisting of vessel elements instead of tracheids , endosperm within their seeds, and fruits that completely envelop the seeds. The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from

230-610: A total of 64 angiosperm orders and 416 families. The diversity of flowering plants is not evenly distributed. Nearly all species belong to the eudicot (75%), monocot (23%), and magnoliid (2%) clades. The remaining five clades contain a little over 250 species in total; i.e. less than 0.1% of flowering plant diversity, divided among nine families. The 25 most species-rich of 443 families, containing over 166,000 species between them in their APG circumscriptions, are: The botanical term "angiosperm", from Greek words angeíon ( ἀγγεῖον 'bottle, vessel') and spérma ( σπέρμα 'seed'),

276-858: Is starting to impact plants and is likely to cause many species to become extinct by 2100. Angiosperms are terrestrial vascular plants; like the gymnosperms, they have roots , stems , leaves , and seeds . They differ from other seed plants in several ways. The largest angiosperms are Eucalyptus gum trees of Australia, and Shorea faguetiana , dipterocarp rainforest trees of Southeast Asia, both of which can reach almost 100 metres (330 ft) in height. The smallest are Wolffia duckweeds which float on freshwater, each plant less than 2 millimetres (0.08 in) across. Considering their method of obtaining energy, some 99% of flowering plants are photosynthetic autotrophs , deriving their energy from sunlight and using it to create molecules such as sugars . The remainder are parasitic , whether on fungi like

322-482: Is derived from the Greek words ἀγγεῖον / angeion ('container, vessel') and σπέρμα / sperma ('seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit. The group was formerly called Magnoliophyta . Angiosperms are by far the most diverse group of land plants with 64 orders , 416 families , approximately 13,000 known genera and 300,000 known species . They include all forbs (flowering plants without

368-399: Is generally transmitted orally through a community, family and individuals until "collected". Within a given culture, elements of indigenous medicine knowledge may be diffusely known by many, or may be gathered and applied by those in a specific role of healer such as a shaman or midwife . Three factors legitimize the role of the healer – their own beliefs, the success of their actions and

414-551: Is made from plant materials, such as bark, leaves and seeds, although animal products may be used as well. A major component of traditional medicine is herbal medicine , which is the use of natural plant substances to treat or prevent illness. American Native and Alaska Native medicine are traditional forms of healing that have been around for thousands of years. There are many ethnobotany plants involved in traditional medicine for Native Americans and some are still used today. When it comes to Native American traditional medicine,

460-449: Is needed to ascertain the efficacy and safety" of such practices and medicinal plants used by traditional medicine systems. Its "Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014–2023" said that the WHO would "support Member States in developing proactive policies and implementing action plans that will strengthen the role traditional medicine plays in keeping populations healthy." In the written record,

506-539: Is often assumed that because supposed medicines are natural that they are safe, but numerous precautions are associated with using herbal remedies. Endangered animals, such as the slow loris , are sometimes killed to make traditional medicines. Shark fins have also been used in traditional medicine, and although their effectiveness has not been proven, it is hurting shark populations and their ecosystem. The illegal ivory trade can partially be traced back to buyers of traditional Chinese medicine . Demand for ivory

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552-877: Is often contrasted with Evidence based medicine . In some Asian and African countries, up to 80% of the population relies on traditional medicine for their primary health care needs. Traditional medicine is a form of alternative medicine . Practices known as traditional medicines include traditional European medicine , traditional Chinese medicine , traditional Korean medicine , traditional African medicine , Ayurveda , Siddha medicine , Unani , ancient Iranian medicine , traditional Iranian medicine , medieval Islamic medicine , Muti , Ifá and Rongoā . Scientific disciplines that study traditional medicine include herbalism , ethnomedicine , ethnobotany , and medical anthropology . The WHO notes, however, that "inappropriate use of traditional medicines or practices can have negative or dangerous effects" and that " further research

598-491: The Alismatales grow in marine environments, spreading with rhizomes that grow through the mud in sheltered coastal waters. Some specialised angiosperms are able to flourish in extremely acid or alkaline habitats. The sundews , many of which live in nutrient-poor acid bogs , are carnivorous plants , able to derive nutrients such as nitrate from the bodies of trapped insects. Other flowers such as Gentiana verna ,

644-479: The aloe vera plant are used to treat skin disorders. Many European liqueurs or digestifs were originally sold as medicinal remedies. In Chinese folk medicine, medicinal congees (long-cooked rice soups with herbs), foods, and soups are part of treatment practices. Although 130 countries have regulations on folk medicines, there are risks associated with the use of them (i.e. zoonosis , mainly as some traditional medicines still use animal-based substances ). It

690-499: The folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples , before the era of modern medicine . The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as "the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement and treatment of physical and mental illness". Traditional medicine

736-944: The healing modalities, ideas of body physiology and health preservation known to some in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture having prior experience. Many countries have practices described as folk medicine which may coexist with formalized, science-based, and institutionalized systems of medical practice represented by conventional medicine . Examples of folk medicine traditions are traditional Chinese medicine , Iranian traditional medicine , traditional Korean medicine , Arabic indigenous medicine , Uyghur traditional medicine, Japanese Kampō medicine, traditional Aboriginal bush medicine, Native Hawaiian Lāʻau lapaʻau , Curanderismo norteño, and Georgian folk medicine , among others. Generally, bush medicine used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia

782-460: The orchids for part or all of their life-cycle, or on other plants , either wholly like the broomrapes, Orobanche , or partially like the witchweeds, Striga . In terms of their environment, flowering plants are cosmopolitan, occupying a wide range of habitats on land, in fresh water and in the sea. On land, they are the dominant plant group in every habitat except for frigid moss-lichen tundra and coniferous forest . The seagrasses in

828-546: The placebo effect . One of the more popular examples of a home remedy is the use of chicken soup as an aid in treating respiratory infections such as a cold or mild flu . Other examples of home remedies include duct tape to help with setting broken bones; duct tape or superglue to treat plantar warts ; and Kogel mogel to treat sore throat. In earlier times, mothers were entrusted with all but serious remedies. Historic cookbooks are frequently full of remedies for dyspepsia , fevers, and female complaints. Components of

874-892: The "Big Five" extinction events in Earth's history, only the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event had occurred while angiosperms dominated plant life on the planet. Today, the Holocene extinction affects all kingdoms of complex life on Earth, and conservation measures are necessary to protect plants in their habitats in the wild ( in situ ), or failing that, ex situ in seed banks or artificial habitats like botanic gardens . Otherwise, around 40% of plant species may become extinct due to human actions such as habitat destruction , introduction of invasive species , unsustainable logging , land clearing and overharvesting of medicinal or ornamental plants . Further, climate change

920-453: The 1590s. It originates from the Latin word "edibilis" (eatable), which comes from the word "edere" (to eat), which comes from the prefix "ed-" (to eat). Angiosperm Basal angiosperms Core angiosperms Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits , and form the clade Angiospermae ( / ˌ æ n dʒ i ə ˈ s p ər m iː / ). The term 'angiosperm'

966-447: The 19th and into the 20th century, with some plant medicines forming the basis for modern pharmacology. The prevalence of folk medicine in certain areas of the world varies according to cultural norms. Some modern medicine is based on plant phytochemicals that had been used in folk medicine. Researchers state that many of the alternative treatments are "statistically indistinguishable from placebo treatments ". Indigenous medicine

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1012-778: The 1st millennium BC. The first Chinese herbal book was the Shennong Bencaojing , compiled during the Han dynasty but dating back to a much earlier date, which was later augmented as the Yaoxing Lun ( Treatise on the Nature of Medicinal Herbs ) during the Tang dynasty . Early recognised Greek compilers of existing and current herbal knowledge include Pythagoras and his followers , Hippocrates , Aristotle , Theophrastus , Dioscorides and Galen . Roman sources included Pliny

1058-670: The Anglo-Saxon codex Cotton Vitellius C.III . These early Greek and Roman compilations became the backbone of European medical theory and were translated by the Persian Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, 980–1037), the Persian Rhazes (Rāzi, 865–925) and the Jewish Maimonides . Some fossils have been used in traditional medicine since antiquity. Arabic indigenous medicine developed from the conflict between

1104-523: The Elder 's Natural History and Celsus 's De Medicina . Pedanius Dioscorides drew on and corrected earlier authors for his De Materia Medica , adding much new material; the work was translated into several languages, and Turkish , Arabic and Hebrew names were added to it over the centuries. Latin manuscripts of De Materia Medica were combined with a Latin herbal by Apuleius Platonicus ( Herbarium Apuleii Platonici ) and were incorporated into

1150-647: The European concepts of disease such as "warm", "cold", and "moist", but it is not clear that the Aztecs used these categories. Juan de Esteyneffer 's Florilegio medicinal de todas las enfermedas compiled European texts and added 35 Mexican plants. Martín de la Cruz wrote a herbal in Nahuatl which was translated into Latin by Juan Badiano as Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis or Codex Barberini, Latin 241 and given to King Carlos V of Spain in 1552. It

1196-621: The beliefs of the community. When the claims of indigenous medicine become rejected by a culture, generally three types of adherents still use it – those born and socialized in it who become permanent believers, temporary believers who turn to it in crisis times, and those who only believe in specific aspects, not in all of it. Traditional medicine may sometimes be considered as distinct from folk medicine, and considered to include formalized aspects of folk medicine. Under this definition folk medicine are longstanding remedies and practises passed on and practiced by lay people. Folk medicine consists of

1242-560: The common ancestor of all living gymnosperms before the end of the Carboniferous , over 300 million years ago. In the Cretaceous , angiosperms diversified explosively , becoming the dominant group of plants across the planet. Agriculture is almost entirely dependent on angiosperms, and a small number of flowering plant families supply nearly all plant-based food and livestock feed. Rice , maize and wheat provide half of

1288-659: The flowering plants as an unranked clade without a formal Latin name (angiosperms). A formal classification was published alongside the 2009 revision in which the flowering plants rank as the subclass Magnoliidae. From 1998, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) has reclassified the angiosperms, with updates in the APG II system in 2003, the APG III system in 2009, and the APG IV system in 2016. In 2019,

1334-646: The head of a snake. Native Americans used foxglove herb as a treatment for an illness they referred to as dropsy or edema, which is fluid buildup typically in the lower legs, and its common cause is heart failure. In modern medicine, foxglove extract is still used under the name digitalis, and its purpose is to moderate the heart rate. Native Americans were successful with some medical practices, such as treating fevers, gastrointestinal conditions, skin rashes, setting bones, as well as birthing babies, and aiding mothers in healing. A study conducted within an IHS hospital that allows Navajo healers to visit patients found that

1380-480: The hospital had an 80 percent success rate in getting comatose patients back to consciousness, which is higher than the rate of present-day biomedical management hospitals. The plant family Asteraceae has been commonly selected for orthopedic aids and pulmonary aids, specifically the species Achillea and Artemisia . A study conducted amongst 14 different tribes within North America found that Asteraceae

1426-445: The ideas surrounding health and illness within the culture are virtually inseparable from the ideas of religion and spirituality. Healers within indigenous communities go by many names ranging from medicine man or woman to herbalist or even shaman and are considered spiritual or religious leaders within their respective tribes. When it comes to healing, tribal healers would look at a plant's characteristics to determine its efficacy for

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1472-449: The increase in consumption of edible insects cite the environmental benefits of being able to raise more food using less land while producing fewer greenhouse emissions . More than 1,900 insect species have been documented as being used for food, including ants and beetle larvae in the diets of some African and Australian tribes, and crispy-fried locusts and beetles enjoyed as street food in parts of Thailand. The term "edible" dates back to

1518-645: The magic-based medicine of the Bedouins and the Arabic translations of the Hellenic and Ayurvedic medical traditions. Spanish medicine was influenced by the Arabs from 711 to 1492. Islamic physicians and Muslim botanists such as al-Dinawari and Ibn al-Baitar significantly expanded on the earlier knowledge of materia medica. The most famous Persian medical treatise was Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine , which

1564-518: The manner of vines or lianas . The number of species of flowering plants is estimated to be in the range of 250,000 to 400,000. This compares to around 12,000 species of moss and 11,000 species of pteridophytes . The APG system seeks to determine the number of families , mostly by molecular phylogenetics . In the 2009 APG III there were 415 families. The 2016 APG IV added five new orders (Boraginales, Dilleniales, Icacinales, Metteniusales and Vahliales), along with some new families, for

1610-595: The official pharmacopoeias of Europe. The Puritans took Gerard's work to the United States where it influenced American Indigenous medicine. Francisco Hernández , physician to Philip II of Spain spent the years 1571–1577 gathering information in Mexico and then wrote Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus , many versions of which have been published including one by Francisco Ximénez . Both Hernandez and Ximenez fitted Aztec ethnomedicinal information into

1656-568: The spring gentian, are adapted to the alkaline conditions found on calcium -rich chalk and limestone , which give rise to often dry topographies such as limestone pavement . As for their growth habit , the flowering plants range from small, soft herbaceous plants , often living as annuals or biennials that set seed and die after one growing season, to large perennial woody trees that may live for many centuries and grow to many metres in height. Some species grow tall without being self-supporting like trees by climbing on other plants in

1702-578: The study of herbs dates back 5,000 years to the ancient Sumerians , who described well-established medicinal uses for plants. In Ancient Egyptian medicine , the Ebers papyrus from c. 1552 BC records a list of folk remedies and magical medical practices. The Old Testament also mentions herb use and cultivation in regards to Kashrut . Many herbs and minerals used in Ayurveda were described by ancient Indian herbalists such as Charaka and Sushruta during

1748-406: The treatment of an illness. Specific plant characteristics such as plant shape, smell, color, and taste could aid in determining how the plant could be used as a remedy. The Meskwaki tribe found they could use the juice from Arum maculatum for snakebites. This was inferred from the milky appearance of the juice from the plant which is said to resemble snake venom, and the plant's shape resembled

1794-559: The world's staple calorie intake, and all three plants are cereals from the Poaceae family (colloquially known as grasses). Other families provide important industrial plant products such as wood , paper and cotton , and supply numerous ingredients for beverages , sugar production , traditional medicine and modern pharmaceuticals . Flowering plants are also commonly grown for decorative purposes , with certain flowers playing significant cultural roles in many societies. Out of

1840-535: Was an early pharmacopoeia and introduced clinical trials . The Canon was translated into Latin in the 12th century and remained a medical authority in Europe until the 17th century. The Unani system of traditional medicine is also based on the Canon . Translations of the early Roman-Greek compilations were made into German by Hieronymus Bock whose herbal, published in 1546, was called Kreuter Buch . The book

1886-519: Was apparently written in haste and influenced by the European occupation of the previous 30 years. Fray Bernardino de Sahagún 's used ethnographic methods to compile his codices that then became the Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España , published in 1793. Castore Durante published his Herbario Nuovo in 1585 describing medicinal plants from Europe and the East and West Indies . It

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1932-483: Was coined in the form "Angiospermae" by Paul Hermann in 1690, including only flowering plants whose seeds were enclosed in capsules. The term angiosperm fundamentally changed in meaning in 1827 with Robert Brown , when angiosperm came to mean a seed plant with enclosed ovules. In 1851, with Wilhelm Hofmeister 's work on embryo-sacs, Angiosperm came to have its modern meaning of all the flowering plants including Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. The APG system treats

1978-547: Was one kind of nattuvaidyam practised in south India. The others were kalarichikitsa (related to bone setting and musculature), marmachikitsa (vital spot massaging), ottamoolivaidyam (single dose medicine or single time medication), chintamanivaidyam and so on. When the medical system was revamped in twentieth century India, many of the practices and techniques specific to some of these diverse nattuvaidyam were included in Ayurveda. A home remedy (sometimes also referred to as

2024-636: Was the most widely used plant family for its medicinal properties. Nattuvaidyam was a set of indigenous medical practices that existed in India before the advent of allopathic or western medicine. These practices had different sets of principles and ideas of the body, health and disease. There were overlaps and borrowing of ideas, medicinal compounds used and techniques within these practices. Some of these practices had written texts in vernacular languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, etc. while others were handed down orally through various mnemonic devices. Ayurveda

2070-538: Was translated into Dutch as Pemptades by Rembert Dodoens (1517–1585), and from Dutch into English by Carolus Clusius , (1526–1609), published by Henry Lyte in 1578 as A Nievve Herball . This became John Gerard 's (1545–1612) Herball or General Historie of Plantes . Each new work was a compilation of existing texts with new additions. Women's folk knowledge existed in undocumented parallel with these texts. Forty-four drugs, diluents, flavouring agents and emollients mentioned by Dioscorides are still listed in

2116-421: Was translated into German in 1609 and Italian editions were published for the next century. In 17th and 18th-century America, traditional folk healers, frequently women, used herbal remedies, cupping and leeching . Native American traditional herbal medicine introduced cures for malaria, dysentery, scurvy, non-venereal syphilis, and goiter problems. Many of these herbal and folk remedies continued on through

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