Medicinal plant compounds may hold up far longer than expected, according to new chemistry research out of Lehman College and the New York Botanical Garden. Researchers led by Professor Ed Kennelly analyzed century-old herbarium specimens of Aconitum, a plant genus long used in traditional remedies worldwide, using modern analytical chemistry techniques and comparing the results to fresh samples. Despite being stored at room temperature for roughly 100 years, the old specimens still yielded clearly detectable levels of well-known medicinal compounds, according to findings published in the journal ACS Omega. The team suggests plant-derived compounds may have greater long-term stability than some synthetic alternatives, a detail that could matter for how herbal health products and plant-based pharmaceuticals are developed and stored going forward. The work also highlights herbarium collections as an underused resource for tracking how natural remedies hold up chemically over time.