A recognized science

More than 800,000 plant species grow on the surface of the Earth, of which 250,000 are known. Among these, the WHO has listed more than 22,000 medicinal plants used in traditional medicine, but only a few hundred are currently used. Approximately 1,200 plants are registered with the French Pharmacopeia. They all have a recognized pharmacological activity and constitute a reservoir of raw materials that is the source of almost half of conventional pharmaceuticals.
For example, in the field of heart tonics, Digitalin remains irreplaceable. It is extracted from Digitalis purpurea or Digitalis lanata. Its properties were discovered by an English physician and botanist. Willow bark, which contains salicylin, is the ancestor of our aspirin (acetyl salicylic acid). Alkaloids of periwinkle are used in the composition of several cancer medications, and many more examples can be named.
Numerous clinical studies have furnished incontestable proof of the efficacy of plants and precisely analyzed the major active ingredients.

A few dates in the history of phytotherapy

• 3000 BCE: engraved clay tablets from this period count 250 species of plants.
• 1500 BCE: Egyptian papyruses name hundreds of plants. Pharaonic civilization had access to advanced medicine based on medicinal plants.
• 400 BCE: Hippocrates, "founder of medicine" writes a treatise on 250 medicinal plants.
• 16th century: Paracelsus, Swiss alchemist and physician, introduces the concept of active ingredient.
• 1980: phytotherapy is officially recognized by the French Ministry of Health as a field of medicine in its own right.
• 1986: the French Minister of Health proposes marketing regulations for plant-based preparations.