Phytotherapy is the use of plants and plant extracts for attempted therapeutic purposes.[1]

Phytotherapy is distinct from homeopathy and anthroposophic medicine, and avoids mixing plant and synthetic bioactive substances. Phytotherapy is regarded by some as traditional or alternative medicine. The medicinal and biological effects of many plant constituents such as the alkaloids, morphine and atropine, for example, have been proven through clinical studies. However, there is debate about the efficacy and the place of phytotherapy in medical therapies. Few diseases have any known effective herbal treatment and no disease has a herbal treatment known to be better than a pharmaceutical treatment.