Most of the herbal extracts are made from crude herbs; they can vary in percentage of active constituents, which further influences the therapeutic activity of herbs. Depending upon the source, the variation in the chemical composition of the medicinal plants is enormous, a possible cause of inconsistent therapeutic effects of herbal products. Faced with the distribution of toxic constituents in herbs and the practice of self- medication, physicians as well as patients should be careful with potentially toxic plant constituents. Tussilago Farfara, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Heliotropium Eichwaldii contain hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids, Solanum Nigrum (solanine), Ricinus Communis (ricin), Acorus Calamus (acoretin) have been discovered to constitute toxic principles.
Ayurveda is a potential source of indigenous drugs. A number of medicinal herbs like Rauwolfia Serpentina (reserpine), Vinca Rosea (vinblastine & vincristine), Cassia Angustifolia (sennosides), Atropa Belladonna (atropine), Papaver Somniferum (morphine) and Digitalis pupurea (digoxin) have provided the modern science with potent weapons. These medicinal herbs became popular due to single active constituents. Keeping in mind the overall scenario, only selected medicinal herbs have been used in standardized from and market analysis clearly favors them.
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