Question

Plants that Heal

Many of the plants that are poisonous in large quantities are useful medicinally if taken in very small quantities. Foxgloves are poisonous if eaten, but the drug digitalis is extracted from the plants, and this is used to treat people with heart diseases. The Deadly Night Shades gives belladonna which is used as a sedative and Nux Vomica tree supplies strychnine which can increase appetite. However, both of these medicines must be taken in small doses; they are poisonous if that dose is exceeded. Before men could manufacture drugs, plants were their only source. The Chinese were using opium, from poppies and the South American Indians chewing cocoa leaves as painkillers long before the presence of drugs called cocaine and heroin. Now that these drugs are distilled from the plants and used at greater strengths, they have become addictive drugs causing as much distress as relief from pain. Other drugs are not as dangerous. Quinine which helps to bring down fever, extracted from the bark of the Cinchona tree, which grows in South America - Camphor, Caster beans and cloves all give oils with medicinal uses, and these are only a few of the many plants used to ease the illness. Another fungus must be included here, the Penicillium fungus, which gives penicillin, an invaluable antibiotic.

Question
1. How are foxgloves medically helpful?

2. The drug that is extracted from foxgloves is
a) belladonna b) strychnine
c) nux vomica. d) digitalis

3. What happens if belladonna and strychnine are given in small doses?

4. Before man could manufacture drugs, plants were not the only source of medicine.
True/False

5. What was used as painkillers by the Chinese and the South American Indians?

6. Which plants produce oils of medicinal value?

7. Which fungus proves a good antibiotic?

8. Match the following.

A B
a) Penicillin i) castor
b) Quinine ii) poppies
c) Opium iii) penicillin fungus
iv) cinchona​

Answer 1

Answer:

1. Chemicals taken from foxglove are used to make a prescription drug called digoxin. Digitalis lanata is the major source of digoxin in the US. Foxglove is most commonly used for heart failure and fluid build up in the body (congestive heart failure or CHF) and irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation).
2. digoxin