Ethnomedicine

[1] Ethnomedical research is interdisciplinary; in its study of traditional medicines, it applies the methods of ethnobotany and medical anthropology.

[1] In addition to plants, some of these traditions constitute significant interactions with insects on the Indian Subcontinent,[2][3] in Africa, or elsewhere around the globe.

Ethnomedicine has been used as a starting point in drug discovery,[5] specifically those using reverse pharmacological techniques.

It is linked to pharmacognosy, phytotherapy (study of medicinal plants) use and ethnobotany, as this is a source of lead compounds for drug discovery.

[6] Emphasis has long been on traditional medicines, although the approach also has proven useful to the study of modern pharmaceuticals.

The opium poppy Papaver somniferum , used in traditional medicine for millennia, is the source of the alkaloids Opium , morphine , codeine and heroin .