 Throughout history, human societies have used their environments to obtain food and medicine through trial and error, gradually developing knowledge about medicinal plants that has been transmitted from generation to generation. However, ensuring the safety, quality, and effectiveness of these plants and herbal drugs is a recent concern in both industrialized and developing countries. This review investigates and describes the process of using medicinal plants throughout history, focusing on recent challenges in quality evaluation, including authenticity, efficacy, toxicity, and consistency. This article was authored by Fatemay Jamshidi-Kia, Zara Loragwani, and Hosein Aminikoi.