Medicinal plants have been identified and used throughout human history.
Ethnobotany is recognized as an effective way to discover future medicines. Plants
have the ability to synthesize a wide variety of chemical compounds that are used to
perform important biological functions and to defend against attack from predators
such as insects, fungi and herbivorous mammals. At least 12,000 such compounds
have been isolated so far; a number estimated to be less than 10% of the tota