Medicine and materials
Many medicinal and recreational drugs, like tetrahydrocannabinol,
caffeine, and nicotine come directly from the plant kingdom. Others are
simple derivatives of botanical natural products; for example, aspirin
is based on the pain killer salicylic acid which originally came from
the bark of willow trees. As well, the narcotic analgesics such as
morphine are derived from the opium poppy. There may be many novel cures
for diseases provided by plants, waiting to be discovered. Popular
stimulants like coffee, chocolate, tobacco, and tea also come from
plants. Most alcoholic beverages come from fermenting plants such as
barley (beer), rice (sake) and grapes (wine).
Hemp, cotton, wood, paper, linen, vegetable oils, some types of rope,
and rubber are examples of materials made from plants. Silk can only be
made by using the mulberry plant. Sugarcane, rapeseed, soy are some of
the plants with a highly fermentable sugar or oil content which have
recently been put to use as sources of biofuels, which are important
alternatives to fossil fuels (see biodiesel).
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