Western herbal medicine

Western herbal medicine has its roots both in the indigenous practices of the British Isles (Bryce, 1988), and in the European and Greco-Roman traditions, and can be traced back to prominent physicians such as Dioscorides, Hippocrates and Galen (Acker, 1995). There are also strong links to North America (Cook, 1869), and some exporting and re-importing of ideas and practices that have taken place particularly over the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Fox, 1932). In North America, the Eclectic and physiomedical herbal movements incorporated the herbal lore of the Native Americans, and many North American herbs are still routinely used in western herbal medicine in the UK - the well-known immune stimulant Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia) is a good example of this cross-cultural exchange. Additionally, as global communication and transportation have expanded, plants from all over the world are now found to be in regular use within the Western framework: an example of this is Ginseng (Panax ginseng).

It is often noted that a significant proportion of orthodox Western medicines were originally derived from herbal medicines. Perhaps because of this, it is often assumed that western herbal medicine is philosophically and theoretically allied to orthodox western mainstream medicine and modern research into herbal medicine has tended to evaluate herbal medicines as ersatz drugs suited to the treatment of specific diseases (for instance Hypericum perforatum specifically for the treatment of depression).

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