8/3/2019 Medicinal Plants Wetlands

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Wetland medicines WWD 2008

8/3/2019 Medicinal Plants Wetlands

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www.ramsar.org

Wetland medicines

People have used wetland animals

and plants or medicinal purposes or

thousands o years. Medicinal leeches,

Hirundo medicinalis, or example, have

been used in treating humans orcenturies, and are still used today, oror

abscesses, painul joints, glaucoma, and

myasthenia, and or venous diseases and

thrombosis.�here are many other animal �here are many other animal

examples, such as turtles and other reptilesurtles and other reptiles

that have long been used or medicine in

China.

Records o medicinal plant uses date rom

around 4,000 B.C. �oday, on a global scale,we use between 50,000 and 70,000 species

o higher plants medicinally as well as

other plant groups such as algae (including

seaweeds). �he plants, their leaves, owers,

roots, etc., or chemical extracts rom them,

are used in three main ‘orms’ o medicine –

traditional medicine, alternative medicine

(including, or example, homeopathy and

ayuverda), and modern western medicine. �he importance o plants or human health

is evidenced by the estimated 70-80%

o people worldwide who rely chiey on

traditional, largely herbal, medicine to

meet their primary healthcare needs, and

the millions o people who gain incomemillions o people who gain income

rom the wild harvest or cultivation o 

plants or rom their trade or processing oror

medicinal purposes. And while many in

the developing world are dependent upon

such medicines, there is a large, growing

demand or them in the developed world

as well. Some examples:

• White willow, Salix alba, a riverine

plant, is the original source o salicylic

acid, the precursor o aspirin, and is

also used in skin care products.

• �he bark o the red mangrove

(Rhizophora mangle), ound in coastal

wetlands throughout the tropics,

has a variety o reported uses in local

remedies.• Certain species o sedge (Cyperus spp.),

widely distributed in tropical and

temperate wetlands, are included in

some traditional remedies or ever in

Europe and Asia.

• Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliate), a

wetland species occurring at high

latitudes in bogs and shallow water,

is used traditionally or digestiveailments and is a commercially

approved treatment in Germany or

dyspeptic discomort and loss o 

appetite.

• Purple loosestrie (Lythrum salicaria),

a semi-aquatic herbaceous plant, is

a popular European olk remedy or

diarrhea and dysentery.

• Sundews (Drosera spp.), insectivorous

herbs ound in acidic bogs, have

proved useul in homeopathic and

pharmaceutical treatments or

bronchial complaints.

• Labrador tea (Ledum palustre),

a widespread bog bush, is used

against many illnesses – and also as a

mosquito repellent.

• Several seaweeds are undergoing

extensive testing since extracts rom

various species have shown indications

o activity against such diseases as

human immunodefciency virus (HIV),polio, cancer, and herpes simplex.

Sadly, a comprehensive global inventory

o wetland medicinal species does

not yet exist, but a recent initiative by

IUCN’s Medicinal Plant Specialist Group

may well supply this much-needed

inormation. With an estimated 70-80%

o medicinal plant species collected rom

the wild (in many cases unsustainably),such an inventory would

be invaluable in the

conservation o these

species and the wetlands

that support them.

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