3][46] The Food and Agriculture Organization estimated in 2002 that over 50,000 medicinal plants are used across the world.[
Medicinal plants are used with the intention of maintaining health, to be administered for a specific condition, or both, whether in modern medicine or in traditional medicine.[3][46] The Food and Agriculture Organization estimated in 2002 that over 50,000 medicinal plants are used across the world.[47] The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew more conservatively estimated in 2016 that 17,810 plant species have a medicinal use, out of some 30,000 plants for which a use of any kind is documented.[48]