The first text ever written about plants in medicine is on clay. It comprises a set of tablets engraved with cuneiform letters and its writers, the Sumarians, compiled it some 3000 years B.C.

Thus begins the official history of phytotherapy, although it is known that in fact, man made very early use of plants, both as food and as remedies.

Since then, man has continued his unbroken quest for a knowledge of plants, their secrets and their beneficial properties. Nowadays, science is making such strides that new horizons are opening up for phytotherapy: new, cutting-edge scientific methods of gaining knowledge of the active principles of plants, the discovery of new properties, new and more convenient forms of use designed to suit the needs of modern-day life.

Plants have now become actual medicines.

		3000 B.C.		:		the first known compilation, on clay tablets, of plant formulae listing up to 250 plant species (discovered in 1948 - Mesopotamia).
		1500 B.C.		:		the Ebers papyri of the Pharaonic civilizations mention several hundred medicinal plants.
		400 B.C.		:		Hippocrates, the illustrious Greek physician, seeks to explain the virtues of plants and writes the "Corpus Hippocratum", which deals with about 250 "simples" (the first plants traditionally used).
		1st century A.D.		:		Dioscorides, another Greek physician, writes his famous "De Materia Medica", listing 600 "simples", destined to remain, for centuries, the reference work on plants.
		During the 2nd century		:		Galen, yet another Greek physician, codifies the use of plants and develops a large number of magistral formulations.
		15th century		:		Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama bring medicinal plants back from their voyages. People talk about the "Plants of the Discovery".
		16th century		:		Paracelsus defines the notion of an active principle. Research into plant morphology is performed in order to explain their therapeutic activity. People talk about the "Theory of Signatures".
		1986		:		In France, the Ministry of Health suggests regulations to cover Product Licences for plant-based patent medicines.