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Human uses of plants include both practical uses, such as for food, clothing, and medicine, and symbolic uses, such as in art, mythology and literature. Materials derived from plants are collectively called plant products .
The human population exploits and depends on many animal and plant species for food, mainly through agriculture, but also by exploiting wild populations, notably of marine fish. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ] Livestock animals are raised for meat across the world; they include (2011) around 1.4 billion cattle , 1.2 billion sheep and 1 billion domestic pigs .
The maguey was cultivated by the Aztecs for its numerous uses including construction, fibre, hedging and production of the sacred drink pulque. [1] This article contains a list of useful plants, meaning a plant that has been or can be co-opted by humans to fulfill a particular need. Rather than listing all plants on one page, this page instead ...
Ethnobotany is an interdisciplinary field at the interface of natural and social sciences that studies the relationships between humans and plants. [1] [2] It focuses on traditional knowledge of how plants are used, managed, and perceived in human societies.
Medicinal plants are used with the intention of maintaining health, to be administered for a specific condition, or both, whether in modern medicine or in traditional medicine. [3] [46] The Food and Agriculture Organization estimated in 2002 that over 50,000 medicinal plants are used across the world. [47]
The use of plants as medicines predates written human history. Archaeological evidence indicates that humans were using medicinal plants during the Paleolithic, approximately 60,000 years ago.
“Plants have intrinsic properties—like moisturizing, antimicrobial, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory [effects]—that can help skin improve certain conditions, like eczema, for example.
The plant has been used for centuries in the South Pacific to make a ceremonial drink with sedative and anesthetic properties, with potential for causing liver injury. [117] Piscidia erythrina / Piscidia piscipula: Jamaica dogwood: The plant is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of insomnia and anxiety, despite serious safety ...