Plant pesticides have been used for a long time, such as Artemisia argyi, house dust mite root, Stellera chamaejasme and so on. The real large-scale research and production in China made a breakthrough in the medicinal plants of Meliaceae, Celosiaceae, Ericaceae, Solanaceae and Compositae in the 1980s, and the development of some products was at the international leading level. The original botanical pesticides paralyze insects' nerves or damage their intestines and stomach through contact and stomach toxicity, or inhibit their growth and development, anesthetize insects or starve them to death through repellent and antifeedant effects, but their toxicity to humans is generally very low.
At present, the botanical pesticides that have been successfully developed and applied in batches include nicotine oleate EC (used to control aphids, leafhoppers, whiteflies, thrips, etc. ), azadirachtin pesticide (control cabbage caterpillar), matrine aqueous solution (control cabbage caterpillar and cabbage aphid), veratrine alcohol solution (control cotton aphid, cotton bollworm and cabbage caterpillar) and binary alkaline aqueous solution (control cabbage aphid).