Milton Martinez

Ewe for the New Diaspora Milton Martinez

"Ethnobotany is the study of the direct interaction between plants and man in his culture. From time immemorial, man has been depending on Mother Nature for all his basic needs and plant diversity that existed around him always attracted his curiosity. Man's preliminary interest in plants started from his need for food, shelter, protection and then his attention shifted to the remedies for injuries and diseases. In fact, medicine and botany always had strong and close connections, as most of the modern medicines come from plant sources." "It has been established that up to 25% of the drugs prescribed in conventional medicine are related directly or indirectly to naturally occurring substances mostly of plant origin. This contribution is a credit to ethnobotany in drug discovery. Natural products from plants, microbes and animals contribute to about half of the pharmaceuticals in use today".