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Plants shape the characteristics of our atmosphere and regional climates, providing us with all our food, as well as numerous medicines and other materials that enrich our lives. It's important that we find ways to pay more attention to plants and protect as many as possible. Plants are crucial for the ecosystems, supporting many life forms by providing homes, food, and protection, which helps keep nature balanced. They are the main source of food for both humans and animals. Improvements in farming and plant breeding have boosted food production. In conclusion , plants are key to solving big global issues like climate change, food security, and creating sustainable cities. Their role is very important, and they will remain a key part of our efforts to build a better future.

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How Plants (and People) Can Save the Planet - Danforth Plant Science Center

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As the impacts of climate change are already being felt, it’s time for us to take action and do all we can to ensure a better future.

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Plants have played a key role in medicine for a long time, helping to make many drugs, from pain relievers like aspirin from willow bark to cancer treatments like paclitaxel from yew trees. It's important to learn about how plants are used in science and medicine for several reasons. A lot of today's medicines come from plant parts. By looking at plants, scientists can find new drugs and treatments for different illnesses. Knowing what plants can do medicinally can also help protect endangered plants. Many plants that could be used for medicine are at risk, and understanding their importance can encourage efforts to save them. Plants provide a way to make medicine that's renewable. Unlike making synthetic drugs, which can be expensive and harm the environment, making medicines from plants can be done in a way that's good for the planet. In conclusion , studying plants in science and medicine is crucial for finding new medicine , protecting nature, understanding traditional medicine, and supporting eco-friendly medical practices.

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In 3500 BC, Ancient Egyptians began to associate less magic with the treatment of disease, and by 2700 BC the Chinese had started to use herbs in a more scientific sense. Egyptians recorded their knowledge of illnesses and cures on temple walls and in the Ebers papyrus (1550 BC), which contains over 700 medicinal formulas.

Hippocrates, 460-380 BC, known as the "Father of Medicine," classified herbs into their essential qualities of hot and cold, moist and dry, and developed a system of diagnosis and prognosis using herbs. The number of effective medicinal plants he discussed was between 300 and 400 species.

Aristotle, the philosopher, also compiled a list of medicinal plants. His best student, Theophrastus discussed herbs as medicines, the kinds and parts of plants used, collection methods, and effects on humans and animals. He started the science of botany with detailed descriptions of medicinal plants growing in the botanical gardens in Athens.

The most significant contribution to the medicinal plant descriptions was made by Dioscorides. While serving as a Roman army physician, he wrote De Materia Medica in about AD 60. This five-volume work is a compilation concerning approximately 500 plants and describes the preparation of about 1000 simple drugs. Written in Greek, it contains good descriptions of plants giving their origins and medical virtues and remained the standard text for 1,500 years.

The earliest Ayurvedic texts on medicine from India date from about 2,500 BC. In Ayurvedic theory, illness is seen in terms of imbalance, with herbs and dietary controls used to restore equilibrium. Abdullah Ben Ahmad Al Bitar (1021-1080 AD) an Arabic botanist and pharmaceutical scientist, wrote the Explanation of Dioscorides Book on Herbs. Later, his book, The Glossary of Drugs and Food Vocabulary, contained the names of 1,400 drugs. The drugs were listed by name in alphabetical order in Arabic, Greek, Persian or Spanish.

Galen, a physician considered the "medical pope" of the Middle Ages, wrote extensitvely about the body's four "humors" - the four fluids that were thought to permeate the body and influence its health. Drugs developed by Galen were made from herbs that he collected from all over the world.

The studies of botany and medicine became very closely linked during the Middle Ages. Virtually all reading and writing were carried out in monasteries. Monks laboriously copied and compiled the manuscripts. Following the format of Greek botanical compilations, the monks prepared herbals that described identification and preparation of plants with reported medicinal characteristics. At this time though, healing was as much a matter of prayer as medicine. Early herbalists frequently combined religious incantations with herbal remedies believing that with "God's help" the patient would be cured.

With time, pracitioners began to focus on healing skills and medicines. By the 1530s, Paracelsus (born Philippus Theophrasts Bombastus von Hohenheim, near Zurich in 1493), was changing Europes attitudes toward health care. Many physicians and apothecaries were dishonest and took advantage from those they should be helping. Paracelsus was a physician and alchemist who believed that medicine should be simple and straight forward. He was greatly inspired by the Doctrine of Signatures, which maintained that the outward appearance of a plant gave an indication of the problems it would cure. This theory is sometimes surprisingly acurate.

In 1775, Dr. William Withering was treating a patient with severe dropsy caused by heart failure. He was unable to bring about any improvement with traditional medicines. The patient's family administered an herbal brew based on an old family recipe and the patient started to recover. Dr. Withering experimented with the herbs contained in the recipe and identified foxglove ( Digitalis purpurea) as the most significant. In 1785, he published his Account of the Foxglove and Some of Its Medical Uses. He detailed 200 cases where foxglove had successfully been used to treat dropsy and heart failure along with his research on the parts of the plant and harvest dates that produced the strongest effect. Withering also realized that theraputic dose of foxglove is very close to the toxic level where side effects develop. After further analysis, the cardiac glycosides digoxin and digitoxin were eventually extracted. These are still used in treating heart conditions today.

In 1803, morphine became one of the first drugs to be isolated from a plant. It was identified by Frederich Serturner in Germany. He was able to extract white crystal from crude opium poppy. Scientists soon used similar techniques to produce aconitine from monkshood, emetine from ipecacuanha, atropine from deadly nightshade, and quinine from Peruvian bark.

In 1852, scientists were able to synthesize salicin, an active ingredient in willow bark, for the first time. By 1899, the drug company Bayer, modified salicin into a milder form of aectylsalicylic acid and lauched asprin into our modern world.

The synthetic age was born and in the following 100 years, plant extracts have filled pharmacy shelves. Although many medicines have been produced from plant extracts, chemists sometimes find that the synthetic versions do not carry the same therapeutic effects or may have negative side effects not found when using the whole plant source.

A full 40 percent of the drugs behind the pharmacist's counter in the Western world are derived from plants that people have used for centuries, including the top 20 best selling prescription drugs in the United States today. For example, quinine extracted from the bark of the South American cinchona tree ( Cinchona calisaya) relieves malaria, and licorice root ( Glycyrrhiza glabra) has been an ingredient in cough drops for more than 3,500 years. The species native to the United States, Glycyrrhiza lepidota, has a broad range from western Ontario to Washington, south to Texas, Mexico and Missouri. Eastward, there are scattered populations. The leaves and roots have been used for treating sores on the backs of horses, toothaches, and fever in children, sore throats and cough.

Medicinal interest in mints dates from at least the first century A.D., when it was recorded by the Roman naturalist Pliny. In Elizabethan times more than 40 ailments were reported to be remedied by mints. The foremost use of mints today in both home remedies and in pharmaceutical preparations is to relieve the stomach and intestinal gas that is often caused by certain foods.

Consumers routinely assume that the medications they take and the food they ingest have been scrupulously studied by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They assume that many of these products are safe because they are natural. However, many herbals have never been seriously tested for efficacy or toxicity. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 eliminated the authority of the FDA to regulate vitamins, herbs and other food-based products, and therefore the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate the use of any herbal supplement.

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Ethnobotany is the study of how people of a particular culture and region make use of indigenous (native) plants. Plants provide food, medicine, shelter, dyes, fibers, oils, resins, gums, soaps, waxes, latex, tannins, and even contribute to the air we breathe. Many native peoples also use plants in ceremonial or spiritual rituals.

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Plant domestication is when people pick and grow plants for certain qualities like bigger size, tastier flavor, or the ability to fight off bugs. This has been super important for how human societies have developed for a few reasons. It's helped us get more dependable and plentiful food, which has helped communities grow and become stronger, leading to the rise of civilizations. Plants that we've tamed are also key for cultural and historical reasons, shaping what people eat, how they celebrate, and their traditions. Learning about how plants were domesticated helps us keep a variety of plants and come up with farming methods that can handle changes in the weather and climate. Understanding this process highlights how closely we're tied to plants and why it's crucial to farm in a way that's good for the future of food and the health of our planet.

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This article explains the history and biology of how plants were first domesticated by early humans. Focusing on how they chose and bred plants for useful characteristics. It covers both the positive and negative effects of this process, including more food and less genetic variety.

Learning about plant domestication is important because it shows how farming has changed human societies significantly. It led to more food, helped build civilizations, but also brought problems like relying on certain crops and being at risk of pests and diseases. This understanding is key to creating farming methods that are sustainable and secure food for the future.

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Domestication is a 10,000-year-old process in which people found new ways to control different plants and animals to better suit human needs. Archaeologists and scientists are using genetic testing to continue to study how ancient people did this.

Subjects

Anthropology, Biology, Ecology, Genetics

Image

Wheat Derivatives

The genetics of some domesticated species have changed so much that they have become different species than their wild ancestors. On the left is primitive wheat (Triticum sp.), which looks quite different from a type pf modern wheat.

Photograph by Biophoto Associates/Science Source

Domestication refers to the process of making some species of wild animals and plants more suitable for human use. By domesticating plants and animals, some human societies began to change from hunter-gatherer groups, which relied on a changing environment for daily food, to farming, which asserted more control on the environment. This is sometimes called the Agricultural Revolution. Domestication began one of the most dramatic revolutions in how people ate, moved, and lived.

Domestication started around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, which includes parts of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Einkorn wheat, barley, chickpeas, lentils, and flax were some of the earliest domesticated species. Some archaeologists, like National Geographic Explorer Melinda A. Zeder, use genetic testing to study plants and bones found in ancient sites to learn more about this early domestication.

Domestication happened in North America with maize, and in Asia with rice, between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. Domesticated plants and animals spread across Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, and South America over the next 2,000 years.

The domestication process began when people chose wild plants that would be useful for eating or making clothing, harvested their seeds, and deliberately planted them. Over time, people took seeds from farmed plants, which had desirable qualities like taste or size, and used these seeds to grow the next year's crop. Slowly, these plants provide increasingly more of the traits desired by humans and becoming very different from the wild plants they came from.

Animals were chosen for their human-valued products like fur, meat, and milk, or for their abilities to help humans with their labors. The animals were bred selectively with other members of their species to ensure that offspring would possess only the most useful traits for humans. Domestication represents a species-wide genetic change from wild animals, rather than just the taming of individual animals. A tiger cub raised by humans is not domesticated, because it still has the genetics of a wild animal. However, a house cat is domesticated because the species cannot survive without human help, and has been genetically affected by human actions.

Domesticated plants and animals are often seen as part of a sedentary farming society, where members remain in a single location. However, hunter-gatherers also domesticate animals. Dogs and horses are useful for hunting and transportation in tribes that travel across vast expanses. Goats, sheep, and cattle are also domesticated by nomadic people.

In many ways, domestication made life easier for human societies. Plant domestication meant there would be an abundant and reliable source of food for farmers. Animal domestication meant less hunting, and different foods, like milk, were available. Plants like cotton and flax, and animals like sheep and cows, could be used to make clothing. Horses, cows, and camels transported people, while dogs and cats served as companions and performed household tasks, such as killing rodents.

Not every society began farming after learning of domesticated plants, for reasons like an unsuitable environment or cultural practices. However, the domestication of plants and animals was an extraordinary tool, which had a profound impact on human development.

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October 19, 2023

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Domestication is a 10,000-year-old process in which people found new ways to control different plants and animals to better suit human needs. Archaeologists and scientists are using genetic testing to continue to study how ancient people did this.

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Understanding different biomes and their plant diversity is important because it provides information on the relationships between living organisms and their environments.They are important for preserving life on our planet and regulating the global climate.Through examining different biomes such as tropical rainforests, deserts, or grasslands, we can understand how plants adjust to different factors like temperature, rainfall, and soil.This understanding helps in recognizing the amazing variety of life on our planet and the importance of protecting these environments for the well-being of our Earth. In conclusion, understanding biomes helps us appreciate the connection of our ecosystems and the importance of protecting these unique environments.

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What Are Biomes? | Biome Facts for Kids | Aquatic, Desert, Rainforest, Tundra, Grassland

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understanding how plants adapt and evolve is important as it shows the ways in which they've get certain characteristics to endure and flourish within their surroundings. Through this exploration, we can know the processes that lead to the variety, toughness, and adaptability of plants. This understanding allows us to value the life of plants and their evolution into different roles within the ecosystems. It highlights the significance of biodiversity and the importance they bring to different organisms in the natural world. Additionally , this information is valuable as it helps in comprehending and safeguarding the natural environment, adjusting to climate, and finding new treatments/medicine.

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Adaptations In Plants | What Is ADAPTATION? | The Dr Binocs Show | Peekaboo Kidz

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Understanding the basic parts of a plant, how plants function and thrive is important. By recognizing structures like roots, stems, root terminal buds etc, we can comprehend the roles these parts play in the plant's growth, reproduction, and overall survival. This knowledge not only helps us appreciate plant life but also enables them to make connections between plant anatomy and their significance. Understanding plant anatomy allows us to appreciate the importance of plants in the environment, agriculture, and our daily lives, giving us a deeper understanding of the natural world and the interconection of living organisms.