It is a common place that we humans have used medicinal plants for millennia, but as a defined field of scientific research what today is called ethnopharmacology has a relatively short history. It is linked to the development of pharmacology in the 19th century (as exemplified in the work of Claude Bernard linking observations by explorers on traditional uses of medicines and toxins) and to the 1960’s fascination with psychoactive drugs. This fascination gave rise to what we now call ethnopharmacology, a term first used a recently as 1967. With thousands of ethnopharmacological articles published each year now, the field has expanded tremendously. Today it covers a wide range of topics based on the anthropological, historical and other socio-cultural science study of local and tradition- al plants, fungi and animals, as well as on the bioscientific and clinical study of such resources used as medicines, toxins, (health) foods and for a wide range of other applications. It is one of the few fields in science which is truly transdisciplinary and it is a key bridge between what is labelled sociocultural and the natural/medical sciences. Even more importantly, ethnopharmacology is crucial for improving the liveli- hoods, health and wellbeing of humans.