Ethnopharmacology today: Tasks and aims

Ethnopharmacology is an interdisciplinary field of research that not only focuses on the search for new biologically active pharmaceuticals (or drug leads) but is also particularly concerned with the documentation, natural science oriented study and preservation/transmission of such traditions. Using an historical example, the ethnobotanical work of A. von Humboldt and the subsequent research of the French physiologist Claude Bernard, we discuss the frame of reference of this field and some of its implications for modern research. As an example of recent work, we discuss a study currently conducted in southern Italy.