A Lost Evolutionary Relationship- Humans and Plants

Plants and humans have had an evolutionary symbiotic relationship since the beginning of time. Humans from around the globe used plants as food and medicine and knew which plants to use for injuries and which plants were poisonous.  Mostly, this is a critical survival skill that has been passed down through oral traditions and education between generations. But also there is an innate instinct involved in knowing which plants are allies, and which plants are foes. We were born with this instinct but don’t know how to follow it anymore. Before modern science broke down the chemical constituents in plants, indigenous people knew already how to use it, and what their body needed. The history of herbal medicine and its relationship with the human species should be considered just as important as the history we have with agriculture and the food we eat. The plants that feed us are often the same that heal. The further humans branch away from their primitive DNA coding perhaps the unhealthier we get. Incorporating herbs back into our diets could possibly help with chronic conditions we have never seen before as a culture. For example, when humans stop eating fruit and greens diseases start to show. Should we then consider that certain diseases could be altered if we just started incorporating herbs back into our diets? Although this is just a theory, we know that curing diseases isn’t that simple. However, just as we know eating well is a good preventive measure against certain diseases, so is using herbs. Currently, herbal knowledge is being incorporated in some parts of our health care system. Some, healthcare practitioners are working with an integrative model in their practice, because there is more of a demand for a holistic approach.

 The roots of what we now call western herbal medicine goes very deep and dark. To begin describing the history surrounded by such a subject is a tough course to tackle. It is difficult to investigate the history of western herbalism without considering the political and racist components. The persecutions during the Middle Ages tried to extinguish the flame of herbal knowledge with the same swooping iron fist that extinguished the old religions with its ancient Gods (a campaign that specifically attacked the rights of women and their herbal healing practices). It was a brutal campaign of fire and torture that left behind an intellectual and cultural wasteland governed by the fear of God. According to Mamedov in attempt to hold onto some knowledge during the Middle Ages, herbalism was preserved in the monasteries of Britain and mainland Europe. However, parallel to this development a new caste of medical professionals was bred at universities. White men spent years of training and debating the oral traditions and written traditions of herbalism. However, they rarely saw an actual sick person, and they suddenly claimed the domain of medicine as their own. In North America Herbalism took yet another turn. When western Europeans first began to colonize there, they did not know many of the plants that grew around them and depended on Native American tribes who knew how to use them. Mamedov states that some people did not shy away from trying to learn the healing skills from the native people, or, later on, also stealing knowledge from enslaved people. And that is how it came to be that today modern herbalism also makes use of many Indigenous or African American remedies. Western herbal medicine is a melting pot of many different cultures. In fact, there’s not one culture that doesn’t have a history of using herbs for healing. This is because herbal medicine is people medicine, and humans will always have a relationship with plants no matter their borders or boundaries.

Today, the World Health Organization estimates that 80% of people rely on herbal medicine for some part of their primary healthcare (World Heath Organization). In fact, 70% of German physicians prescribe plant-based medicines still. Just recently in 2015, the Nobel prize was awarded to two scientists, William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura who "came up" with a new anti-malaria drug. The drug called Avermectin was made from the plant sweet annie (Artemisia Annua). Again, it is important to look at the political dimension in this finding. Indigenous people that have been habitating the land where malaria is an epidemic have been using sweet annie as an anti-malaria drug for thousands of years. Yet, not once did the scientists give acknowledgment to them. According to Haggard and Gwathmey scientists instead exploited them through using their years of knowledge and personal experience for their own personal gain. It has been well documented that most all of our modern day pharmaceuticals were, and are derived from chemical constituents that have been found in plants. For example, lets look at aspirin. The main chemical constituent found in aspirin is called salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is found in many plant profiles including willow (salix spp) and meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria). This is where we got aspirin from. The only difference is when we use plant medicine as opposed to pharmaceuticals we are ingesting thousands of plant chemical constituents as opposed to just one that has been amplified for strength, and then mixed with additives, and preservatives. These thousands of chemical constituents play a vital role in how our bodies process them. Once we start to isolate constituents, we then can get side effects from medication, as we see now with most pharmaceutical drugs. All herbalists and botanists know that this is because the thousands of molecules, and constituents in plants have a synergistic relationship with each other warding off negative side effects of each other. If you want to start using herbal medicine but don't know where to begin you can start by having a daily cup of one of our tea blends. 

            People need western medicine. It is brilliant, and lifesaving. But sometimes its close-mindedness prevents it from embracing other ways of thinking about health and illness. And in the long run it doesn’t always set people up for long lasting health. Conventional medicine doesn’t acknowledge the interconnectedness of all things. This is where integrative clinics have picked up steam for quite some time, now that complementary medicine has become more popular. For example, people are looking at herbs to help them with their side effects of modern day drugs, and for dealing with anxiety, and depression, and seeing positive results. When we can combine both modern medicine and alternative medicine like herbs we build a stronger medical model. It is so important to have many different tools in the toolbox. Bridging the gap between two worlds is crucial in understanding the complexity of the human body, and providing a whole body approach to medicine that will only benefit people. Modern medicine has given us amazing things, but we have to give thanks to the building blocks that set it on its pedestal. Perhaps in the end we will just make one big circle back to where we began – from the soil, to the seeds, to the bark, and berries. And we will realize that we didn’t have to go so far to understand how to care medically for people. Perhaps some of the ways that people lived in the past, is what we've been missing this whole time. There is a great future for herbal medicine. I see clinics where doctors, herbalists, acupuncturists, and massage therapists all work under one roof, providing a holistic treatment approach for people, and leaving egos at the door. If you're interested in how to incorporate more herbs into your life, come to some of our events at the shop that include a multitude of classes on herbal medicine, or book a 1 on 1 educational session with me through here! 

-Alex Crofoot