There is evidence for several different types of positive interactions between different components of medicinal plants used in the treatment of malaria. The aim of this paper is to review positive interactions between components of whole plant extracts, which may explain this. There is evidence that crude plant extracts often have greater in vitro or/and in vivo antiplasmodial activity than isolated constituents at an equivalent dose. In traditional medicine whole plants or mixtures of plants are used rather than isolated compounds.
