What is
an herbalist?
In the United States, an herbalist is a self-defined professional.
There is no national or state system of licensure or certification
for herbalists. Professional groups may grant certification to members
that have reached a certain level of training as an herbalist. Some
herbalists concentrate on growing or wildcrafting (picking) herbs.
Others manufacture herbal products. Still others teach or counsel people
about the use of herbs as medicine.
One branch of anthropology, called ethnobotany, studies the
use of plants in other cultures, particularly their use as medicine.
Ethnobotanists, who receive their training through the standard
university system, have classified a number of medicinal herbs.
Their work helps preserve the traditional folk medicine of indigenous
people around the world. The American Botanical Council web site
lists some current ethnobotanical expeditions.
What is herbal medicine?
Many different types of natural medicine use herbs as part of their practice. In
the United States, herbal medicine generally refers to a system of medicine that
uses European or North American plants. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) uses
plants native to China or Asia, while Ayurvedic herbal medicine uses plants native
to India. Modern herbalists often use plants from many different regions of the
world, and they do not restrict their practice only to those plants classified
as an herb (a seed plant whose stem withers away annually). Instead, in medicine,
an herb can be a root, a piece of tree bark, a mushroom, or anything else which
grows naturally and falls into the plant kingdom.
Phytopharmaceutical literally means "plant medicine" and
has become a popular term for some types of herbal medicine,
especially those practices that treat the herb or the herbal
extract as a drug.
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