Plant extract

A Plant extracta is a "concentrated pharmaceutical preparations of plants obtained by removing active constituents with a suitable solvent, which is evaporated away, and adjusting the residue to a prescribed standard." In their basic form, they are used in phytotherapy, and also are used for the creation of remedies in homeopathy and Bach flower therapy.

Certain plant extracts serve as a starting material for the preparation of a wide range of drugs (e.g., opium for natural opioid analgesics such as morphine and codeine), or have been the model for the synthesis of drugs based on the phytochemicals in the plant extract (e.g. paclitaxel, based on a compound from the endangered Pacific Yew, Taxus brevifolia).