Cultural background of the medicinal plants of Yemen.

The study of the traditional use of medicinal plants of Yemen in the old pre-islamic and islamic pharmacopoeia has shown that: (1) the traditional medicine actually used in this country belongs to the old arabic medicine, itself similar to Greek and Indian medicines; (2) this medicine is highly original according to the great number of plants, indigenous or specific, of the Yemenite pharmacopoeia, which are not recorded in the literature, and to the high percentage of therapeutic indications belonging to Yemen which are unknown elsewhere.