Throughout history plants have been of paramount importance to medicine. Eighty percent of all medicinal drugs originate in wild plants. In spite of technological and medical advances, only 2 percent of the world's plant species have been analyzed even for one group of plant chemicals, the alkaloids. Many more such drugs remain to be found. Any could be as useful as vincristine , derived from the Madagascar periwinkle, which has increased the survival rate of children with leukemia from 20 percent to 80 percent.
Most plants remain untested for their medical potential.
Another extremely promising anti-cancer drug is taxol, derived from Pacific yew. Taxol has worked against a broad range of cancers. Plants are also the real source of the animal products we consume such as beef, milk, and fish. Native plants have great untapped potential as sources of improved genetic traits such as disease resistance and drought tolerance. Industrial Products Plants are immensely important for the consumer goods they provide.