Medicinal Rainforest Species

Medicinal plants are used in a variety of ways including tonics, compresses and infusions. They serve a range of purposes and are used for various ailments. The following is just a taste of the hundreds of herbs used in medicine today:

• Acai Palm Berries (Oleracea sp.) are one of the most nutritious and powerful foods on earth. They are loaded with antioxidants (20 times more than red wine), healthy fats, and fibers. They help to fight aging and are a natural anti-inflammatory.
• Curare (Chondrodendron tomentosum) is a South American vine native to the Amazon Basin. It was traditionally used in poison arrows. The active ingredient in curare is D-tubocurarine and it was used as a medicine in a number of ways. It is used in the treatment of edema, fever, kidney stones, and testicular inflammation. It has been used externally for bruises, contusions, and poisonous snakebites. Modern surgeries have even used it as an anesthetic.
• Graviola (Annona muricata) is a rainforest tree used for drinks, sherbets, and medicines. Medicines are made to reduce fevers, increase mother’s milk after childbirth, kill parasites, sedate, and relieve arthritis pain. Today, graviola is used as adjunct therapy for chemotherapy patients. It is currently under investigation by the NCI for its anticancerous, antitumorous, and antiviral properties.
• Quinine (Cinchona sp.) is quite possibly one of the most famous rainforest plants. Derived from the bark of the Cinchona tree, it has been used for hundreds of years to treatment malaria. When, during WWII, the supply of quinine was disrupted by Japanese occupation, scientists began research to develop a synthetic version to protect soldiers from malaria. It is currently used in ethno-medicine to treat numerous ailments including alcoholism, anemia, fever, flu, gastrointestinal disorders, general fatigue, hair loss, indigestion, typhoid, and some forms of cancer.
• Wild yam (Dioscorea villosa) has been used by herbalists for hundreds of years to treat menstrual cramps and problems related to childbirth. The discovery of a substance contained in wild yams revolutionized the pharmaceutical industry. The tubers contain diosgenin, a steroid-like substance that is involved in the production of the hormone progesterone. Diosgenin has served a key role in the making of hormones and the development of the birth control pill, two of the major advances in plant drug medicine this century. Wild yam continues to be used for treating menstrual cramps, nausea and morning sickness associated with pregnancy, inflammation, osteoporosis, menopausal symptoms, and other health conditions (www.umm.edu).

This short list helps to show the enormous range of rainforest plants and their uses for medicine. How they were revealed to us is almost as important. Of the 121 pharmaceutical drugs that are plant based, an astonishing 74% were discovered with the help of indigenous peoples and their vast knowledge of the environment.