Ayurveda is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayurveda is pseudoscientific.
Dhanvantari, an avatar of Vishnu, is the Hindu god associated with ayurveda.
Physician taking pulse, Delhi, c. 1825
An ayurvedic practitioner applying oil using head massage
Ayurvedic preparations displayed in Delhi in 2016
Herbal medicine is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remedies, such as the anti-malarial group of drugs called artemisinin isolated from Artemisia annua, a herb that was known in Chinese medicine to treat fever. There is limited scientific evidence for the safety and efficacy of many plants used in 21st-century herbalism, which generally does not provide standards for purity or dosage. The scope of herbal medicine sometimes include fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts.
An antique selection of herbal medicines
A physician preparing an elixir, from an Arabic version of Dioscorides's pharmacopoeia, 1224
Leaves of Eucalyptus olida being packed into a steam distillation unit to gather its essential oil
A herb shop in the souk of Marrakesh, Morocco