Indonesia has around 30 thousand to 50 thousand types of plants.  However, only about 7,500 can be used for medicinal plants.  This was conveyed by LIPI researcher Andria Agusta, Tuesday 126/5).  He said, related to the use of biodiversity for the prosperity of the nation, only about 7,500 plants can be used as medicinal plants.

 One of them is the sindur plant.  This herb produces sindur oil which can be used to treat sunburns.  He said the oil produced by the sindur tree has the potential to fight pathogenic bacteria.  But, he said, more research was needed to separate the pure compounds.

 Other than that.  There are rare plants from Papua that function as food supplements, namely Papuacedrus papuans and Phyllocladus hypophyllus.  This plant has a transcommunic acid compound.  and can be a natural antibiotic plant.

 Kalimantan island.  Andria said that they also have forest ginseng, namely yellow ginseng, Relliptica root bark which can trigger sexual activity, but it is only in the testing phase in mice.  From his experiments, the effect of this plant can make erections in these animals last longer.  Besides plants, Andria said, there are also animals for medicine.  Like, hedgehogs, turtle eggs, and pangolins.  The nutritional value of the soft-shelled turtle, high cholesterol.  If our metabolism is still good, that's fine.  It is very good for brain development, "he said. Meanwhile, the hedgehog's tail is a part of the body of a hedgehog that has an aphrodisiac function. The data prove that the hedgehog's tail can increase the libido of male mice.

 Andria also said that apart from China and India, currently Indonesia is one of the Eastern countries which are known as drug producers.  This is what is commonly called herbal medicine.  Meanwhile, currently no Western medicine has been produced by Indonesia.

 From the manufacture itself, he said, Western medicine and herbal medicine is much more difficult Western medicine.  Western drug manufacturing clinical trials go through four phases.  "It could be in phase two. This drug cannot be used by humans because of its side effects," he said.

 He said, if people call drugs expensive, it is because of the complicated process.  However, people today, he assessed, tend to want to drink medicine that is instant and can recover immediately.  "With herbal medicine it will not be like that because herbal medicine must be routine," he said.

 According to him, most herbal medicines do not directly attack someone's pain.  But, it only improves metabolism in the body.  So, the body is repaired slowly and requires a long process.