Not yet scheduled. The course covers the interrelationship of medicine and botany, both historically and currently. Folk medical traditions, especially those that have had an impact on clinical medicine, are discussed. The core of the course covers toxic as well as medicinal plants, organized by different classes of disorders. In addition to medical significance, plants have nutritional significance both historically, based on humoral theories of disease causation, and currently, based on our understanding of vitamins, minerals and deficiences.
Modern pharmacology is still heavily dependent on plants and fungi.
An brief overview of pharmacology is followed by a discussion of how drug activity is researched and measured and how genetic engineering has expanded the possible avenues for research enormously. The course closes with an exploration of the likely future of plants in medicine.