Botanical Medicine utilizes plants from around the world for their healing powers to stimulate the body’s abilities to repair and heal. Plants contain active constituents (chemical compounds) that interact with the chemical and physiological processes in the human body. In fact, most conventionally used Western drugs are made from either an extracted plant compound or a synthetic version of that compound (note, this system of thought does not take into account the complex interaction of all combined constituents in a living plant). Due to this, botanicals have the ability to interact with conventional drugs, and your ND is trained in identifying and preventing unwanted interactions. Botanical medicines come in many forms, and are most often dispensed in the form of teas, tinctures (alcohol-based extracts of plant constituents), essential oils and supplements.