From time immemorial, mankind has known and used plants and their derivatives in everyday life. Cultural and religious rites of ancient peoples regularly included sessions with a variety of drinks or meals in which the main pharmacological action would have a specific herbal component that served to achieve a goal, such as achieving trance in shamanistic rituals or improving psychophysical abilities at high altitudes. People have drawn conclusions about the benefits of the various plants they have found in their climate experientially and passed on knowledge from generation to generation. Precisely because of these facts, the cultural aspect is very important in terms of preserving tradition. However, in modern times, more and more research is emerging that indicates the great potential of certain plant species or their isolates for medical purposes. Here I pay special attention to psychiatric indications. A number of studies confirm the theses on the antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of certain plant hallucinogens, such as the Amazon drink ayahuasca or psilocybin mushrooms, popularly known as "magic mushrooms". In addition, we have certainly all drunk coffee at least once in our lives in order to „get us going“, and this is just one of the most glaring examples of human use of psychostimulants of plant origin for the purpose of raising both cognitive and physical capacity. The biggest problem in modern science are legal regulations that often do not go in favor of researchers so it is difficult to carry out a research on a large number of people that would have repercussion in general public and thus change some ingrained negative opinions.