• Question: Is there a plant that cures many diseases and illnesses in the world?

    Asked by simsonadventure365 to Bob, Katie, Nisha, Sallie, Vee on 4 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Bob Bonwick

      Bob Bonwick answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      there are many plants that have many medicinal properties, Willow bark contains asprine, Foxgloves contain chemicals used in heart diease medication. But I don’t think that there are plants out there that can 100%cure all manor of disease.

    • Photo: Sallie Baxendale

      Sallie Baxendale answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      Yes – lots of our modern medicines share the same characteristics as plants that have been used as herbal remedies for years. Some very eminent scientists at Harvard univeristy in america have just started a big project to look at plants and how we can get new medicines from them. There is a tree bark in africa that has anti-malarial properties – and interestingly a lot of the animals who live there eat it. We can learn a lot from looking at the types of plants that animals eat and avoid. Over 50% of the plant food of some species is thought to be eaten for its medicinal, rather than nutritional qualities

    • Photo: Katie McDonald

      Katie McDonald answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      I think there are lots of plants that cure lots of diseases but one single plant can’t cure lots on its own! There are so many undiscovered plant species though, particularly in the Amazon, that could give us even more cures.

Comments