Plants With Medicinal Qualities

1. Plants With Medicinal Qualities Andrew Ferguson Kumar Patel Tye Throneberry

2. Ginkgo biloba • Ginkgo biloba is one of the most commonly used herbal medicines in the world. • It has been used for thousands of years in China. • The Ginkgo was thought to be extinct in the wild, but it is now known to grow wild in two areas in China.

3. Ginkgo biloba • Ginkgos are deciduous trees that, when full grown, range from 60-120 feet tall. • The species originated in China 180 million years ago, and there are over 100 Ginkgo trees in China that are reportedly over 1000 years old. • They are very hardy trees. 8 Ginkgos survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and are still alive today.

4. Morphology • The Ginkgo has bi-lobed leaves with veins that extend out from the center. • Each tree is either male or female. • The branches grow in length by the growth of shoots from the bases of the leaves. • Male plants produce pollen cones, and female plants have two ovules at the end of stalks that form seeds upon pollination.

5. Taxonomy • Common Name: Maidenhair Tree • Division: Ginkgophyta • Class: Ginkgoopsida • Order: Ginkgoales • Family: Ginkgoaceae • Genus: Ginkgo • Species: Ginkgo biloba

6. Taxonomy • Ginkgo means “silver apricot” • biloba means “bi-lobed” - referring to the two lobed leaves of the plant. • G. biloba is a living fossil, and it is the only plant from its division, class, order, family, or genus that is still alive. It has no botanical relationships.

7. Distribution and Habitat • Ginkgo trees can be found in many temperate and subtropical areas including North, Central, and South America, Africa, China, and Australia. • The Ginkgo grows best in moist, deep, sandy soils near rivers, but it can grow in almost any set of conditions.

8. History of Use • Ginkgo seeds and leaves have been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat asthma, coughs, bladder irritability, and uterine fluxes. • The leaves were eaten as early as 200AD in China to increase blood flow to the lungs and treat diarrhea.

9. Uses • Ginkgo biloba has a very unique chemical composition that accounts for the multiple effects it produces. • Its extract, EGB 761, contains many functional groups which also help to account for the multiple effects it produces.

10. EGb 761

11. Uses • EGb 761 produces four main effects1. Vasodilation and protection of the circulatory system.2. Protection of the nervous system.3. Protection against retinal diseases.4. Protection against otorhinolaryngeal diseases.

12. Uses • Something unique about EGb 761 is that it does not act solely as an activator or an inhibitor. Instead, it may act as either one, promoting either the activation or inhibition of processes that maintain regular behavior of the body.

13. Uses • In the US, Ginkgo is an herbal medication, but in Europe – particularly in Germany and France – Ginkgo is prescribed by doctors to treat many conditions and diseases associated with aging. • Dimentia, Alzheimer’s, macular degeneration, glaucoma, mood disorders, and sexual dysfunction.

14. Uses • Ginko also protects against free radicals, which improves the survival of many primary auditory and optical nerves. Its vasodilating properties are the method by which it cures sexual dysfunction. It has beneficial effects on memory and attention span due to its stimulation of the hippocampus.

15. Controversy • While Ginkgo seems to cause few problems to those who take it, many are still skeptical of its effectiveness. • Ginkgo may be beneficial, but so are many of its alternatives. • For people who only feel right about treating themselves with herbal medications, ginkgo may be a good alternative to prescribed medicines. • Many people take ginkgo for its memory enhancing properties. • Even if the perceived results are just a product of the placebo effect, they are still results.

16. Ephedra: Taxonomy • Division: Gnetophyta • Class: Gnetopsida • Order: Ephedrales • Family: Ephedraceae • Genus: Ephedra • Species: Ephedra sinica

17. Ephedra sinica • Ephedra sinica is an ephedrine containing member of the Ephedra genus. • Its common names are “Ma Huang” and “Ephedra” • Ephedra was the active ingredient in the recently banned Fen Phen drug.

18. Ephedra: Botanical Relationships • Many, but not all, of the species in the Ephedra genus contain alkaloids. • E. sinica traditionally has the highest alkaloid content: 1-3% of the plant is composed of alkaloids, and 40-90% of these alkaloids are ephedrine. • Ephedrine is an alkaloid that is the active ingredient that produces the desired effects of ingesting the plant.

19. Ephedra sinica • Ephedra sinica is a small evergreen bush that occurs in dry climates over a wide area, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. • The plant originated in Pakistan and Northern China about 30 million years ago, but it can now be found across Southern Europe, North Africa, Southwest and Central Asia, South America, and in the Southwestern areas of the US.

20. Harvesting Ephedrine • The usefual part of E. sinica is primarily the dried, young branch. • Sometimes, the root or whole plant is used. Ephedrine found in dietary supplements is usually either a formation of powdered stems and aerial portion or a dried extract. Dried extracts contain more ephedrine alkaloids by weight, due to the extraction process.

21. Historical Use • Ephedra has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 5000 years. • Historically, it was used to treat colds, the flu, fever, chills, headaches, edema, joint and bone pain, and it was used as a diuretic.

22. Uses of Ephedra • When combined with caffeine, ephedrine has been shown to promote thermogenesis, fat loss, and muscle gain in a collection of controlled trials. • Ephedrine acts as a general stimulant on the nervous system, making the body feel more energized.

23. Controversy • Taking too much ephedrine can produce toxic effects that include peripheral vasconstriction and cardiac palpitations which lead to increased blood pressure and increased heart rate. • More adverse effects of ephedrine may target the central nervous system – these effects include nervousness, anxiety, tremors, weakness, irritability, and insomnia. • All of these adverse effects increase with higher doses, and overdose can lead to nausea, vomiting, fever, palpitations, tachycardia, hypertension, paranoid psychosis, respiratory depression, convulsions, and even coma.

24. Controversy • On February 6, 2004, the FDA banned the sale of dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids on the grounds that they “pose an unreasonable risk to those who use [them].” • The FDA had reports of over 16,000 adverse events associated with the use of ephedrine alkaloid containing dietary supplements. These supplements caused heart palpitations, insomnia, and tremors, among other things.

25. Controversy • Drugs that contain ephedrine alkaloids had been previously monitored and regulated by the FDA, and it was unreasonable to not regulate the dietary supplements. On August 21, 2006, a circuit court upheld the FDA’s decision to ban ephedra as a dietary supplement.

26. Summary • While ephedrine has been shown to promote weight loss and give the user an increased feeling of energy, the risks seem to outweigh the rewards. • Exercise and proper diet are safer, more effective ways to lose weight and increase metabolic rate and energy levels.

27. Hawthorn • Hawthorn is a plant that was used in traditional Chinese medicine as a digestive aid. • Recently, it has been used to treat people with high blood pressure and mild heart failure in Europe.

28. Hawthorn: Taxonomy • Division: Magnoliophyta • Class: Magnoliopsida • Order: Rosales • Family: Rosaceae • Subfamily: Maloideae • Genus:Crataegus • Species: Crataegus laevigata

29. Hawthorn: Taxonomy and Morphology • The Rosaceae family is a large family of plants, with about 3,000-4,000 species in 100-120 genuses. Traditionally it has been divided into four subfamilies: Rosoideae, Spiraeoideae, Maloideae, and Amygdaloideae. • These subfamilies are primarily diagnosed by the structure of the fruits, although this approach is not followed universally. • Crataegus laevigata is native to Europe around 30 million years ago.

30. Hawthorn: Morphology • Hawthorn comes from shrubs that grow from 5-15 m tall, characterized by their small pome fruit and thorny branches. The bark is smooth and gray in younger shrubs. In older trees, the bark has narrow ridges. • The fruits are sometimes known as "haws", from which the first part of the name “Hawthorn” was derived. • The rest of the name comes from the thorns that grow from the branches, and are 1-3 cm long. The leaves grow spirally on long shoots and in clusters on the branches or twigs. • The leaves themselves have lobed or serrate margins and are somewhat variable shape.

31. Hawthorn Habitat • Hawthorn comes from an extremely hardy tree. • There are over 1000 species that are remarkably similar, and even professional foresters do not try to identify each tree by its species. Instead, they are grouped together. • The shrubs tend to hybridize and adapt to the environment they are planted in, but they prefer more moist soils in fertile areas. • The shrubs can grow in partial sunlight, but they grow better in full sunlight.

32. Uses • In traditional Chinese medicine, hawthorn was used primarily as a digestive aid, but recently it has been used to treat other ailments. • In Europe, Hawthorn has been particularly widely used. • Topically, hawthorn leaf has been used to treat boils, sores, and ulcers.

33. Uses • Orally, hawthorn leaf preparations are used to prevent and treat coronary circulation problems. • They can also be used to increase cardiac output reduced by hypertension or pulmonary disease, and to treat chronic arrhythmias, hypotension, and other heart conditions.

34. Hawthorn Controversy • Hawthorn, as with Ginkgo, does not have many adverse effects. • Sources did say to avoid hawthorn if you are pregnant or breast feeding. • The only adverse effect to hawthorn is that it may have no effect at all. As with many herbal treatments, studies produced a variety of conclusions concerning the effectiveness of hawthorn.

35. Herbal Treatment Pros • Herbal medications may be beneficial to us either directly or indirectly via the placebo effect. • Most herbal medications have few adverse effects, and overdose is not usually a life threatening concern. • Herbal medications are more affordable than most prescription medications

36. Herbal Treatment Cons • Herbal treatment may be a waste of money, because often it fails to produce any effect at all. • Herbal treatments are usually not as effective as prescribed treatments. • Herbal treatments can’t cure some diseases and ailments that prescribed treatments can. • Even the herbal treatment books we consulted said to visit a physician if symptoms persisted for a certain period of time, indicating that while herbal treatments can help, there is no herbal substitute for many treatments.