Folk remedies and secret family recipes for curing ailments have been handed down for centuries. Other plant names are not so obvious. The bark from a white willow or slippery elm tree are the basis for aspirin. Foxglove is known for its chemical compound, digitalis, which is used to treat heart conditions. Horehound is used to treat coughs.
Plants are the basis for most of our medicines.
Well, for the past few years an interesting turf war has developed between big name, big money pharmaceutical companies and the budding big industry of natural dietary supplements and remedies. Most of the dispute centered on the advertised claims that certain herbal remedies could and would affect certain medical disorders. Some folks complained that the herbal companies were, at best, making untested claims about their products and, at worst, were actually making false claims about the medicinal effects. The pharmaceutical companies protested that they were required to undergo a long, complicated and expensive process in order to gain approval from the FDA before releasing any product. And of course there were issues having to do with liability and safe dosage limits related to herbal products.