草藥學

Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts.草藥療法是基於使用植物和植物提取物的傳統醫學或民間醫學實踐。 Herbalism is also known as botanical medicine, medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, and phytotherapy.草藥療法也被稱為植物藥，醫學草藥療法，草藥，草藥學和植物療法。 The scope of herbal medicine is sometimes extended to include fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts.草藥的範圍有時會擴展到包括真菌和蜂產品，以及礦物質，貝殼和某些動物部位。
Many plants synthesize substances that are useful to the maintenance of health in humans and other animals.許多植物合成了對維持人類和其他動物健康有用的物質。 These include aromatic substances, most of which are phenols or their oxygen-substituted derivatives such as tannins.這些包括芳族物質，其中大多數是酚或其氧取代的衍生物，如單寧。 Many are secondary metabolites, of which at least 12,000 have been isolated — a number estimated to be less than 10% of the total.許多是次級代謝產物，其中至少有XNUMX種已被分離出來-估計不到總數的XNUMX％。 In many cases, these substances (particularly the alkaloids) serve as plant defense mechanisms against predation by microorganisms, insects, and herbivores.在許多情況下，這些物質（尤其是生物鹼）可作為植物防禦機制，抵抗微生物，昆蟲和草食動物的捕食。 Many of the herbs and spices used by humans to season food yield useful medicinal compounds.人類用於調味食物的許多草藥和香料可產生有用的藥用化合物。