Pharmacognosy Overview

Pharmacognosy

• Pharmacognosy is the study of natural substances, primarily plants, used in medicine.
• It's considered an applied science examining the biological, biochemical, and economic aspects of natural drugs and their components.
• It's the study of drugs originating from plants and animals.
• The term "pharmacognosy" was first used in Germany in 1815 by a medical student named Seydler.
• It combines the Greek words "pharmakon" (drug) and "gnosis" (knowledge).
• It evolved from ancient civilizations' practices of using plant or animal parts to relieve pain, manage suffering, and treat illnesses.
• Today, it's a highly specialized field within pharmaceutical education.
• It connects pharmacology and medicinal chemistry, and pharmaceutics and clinical pharmacy.
• It's closely related to botany and plant chemistry, stemming from earlier studies on medicinal plants.
• It has been vital in the development of related fields like descriptive botany, plant taxonomy, phytochemistry, chemical plant taxonomy, and tissue culture.
• Modern isolation techniques and pharmacological testing help new plant-based drugs enter medicine as purified substances.