Introduction to Pharmacognosy.

Introduction

In the ninetieth century the term material medica was used for the subject now known as
Pharmacognosy. Seylder German scientist wrote a book Analecta pharmacognostica in 1815, in his book
he used word Pharmacognosy first time. He coined this word by combing two Greek word pharmakon
means drug and gignosco means to acquire the knowledge of.

Pharmacognosy is defined as scientific and systematic study of physical, chemical and biological charters
of crude drugs along with history, method of cultivation, collection, preparation for market and
preservation of herbs.

Crude drug are the drugs which are obtained from natural sources like plant, animals, minerals and they
are used as such they occurs in nature without any processing except drying and size reduction.

Scope and development of Pharmacognosy

Pharmacognosy has played an important role in development of science. Pharmacognosy gives sound
knowledge of vegetable under botany and animal drug under zoology. It also includes plant taxonomy
plant breeding, plant biotechnology and by this knowledge one can improve the cultivation method of
medicinal plants.

Now a days phytochemistry has undergone the significance improvement this includes chemistry of
various substances that are accumulated and synthesized by plants .

Newly detected plants drugs are converted in to medicine as pure phytopharmaceuticals.

Pharmacognosy is essential for the evolution of new medicine as crude drugs are used as sources of
therapeutically active metabolites.

Pharmacognosy is science of active principle of crude drugs which can help in manufacturing of dosage
forms.

Complete knowledge of Pharmacognosy will help in recent trends that is in industry as research tools
and all department of pharmaceuticals and one can improve the health care facilities across the world.

The second half of ninetieth centaury brought important discoveries in newly developing field,
technology involving extraction, purification and characterization of pharmaceuticals obtained from
natural source contributed significantly to advancement.

Due to isolation of pure constituents medicinal plants becomes one of its major object of interest.

The substance from plants were isolated their structure were elucidated and pharmacologically active
constituents were studied. The development was mainly as follow-

Pelletier and Conventous discovered alklaoids like strychinine (1817) brucin(1819) caffeine (1819) and
quinine (1820) were isolated.

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In 1893 asperin was isolated by Banking and Best in 1922.

Antibiotics like penicillin discovery by Alexder fleming in 1928 and streptomycin discovered in 1944,
cephlosporin discovery in 1955.

Resperin was isolated from rauwolfia root, vincristin and vinblastin alkaloids isolated from vinca.

Thus the scope of Pharmacognosy seems to be emormous in the field of medicine, food supplements
pharmaceutical necessities, pesticides, dyes, plant biotechnology.

Importance of taxonomy and chemotaxonomy in evolution of Pharmacognosy

Taxonomy is a branch of biology which deals with description identification and naming of the plants
and their classification in different groups according to their resemblance and differences mainly in their
morphological characteristics.

The object of classification is to describe name and classify the plants in a such manner that their
relationships with respect to their descent from common ancestry may be brought out.

The ultimate object of classification is to arrange plants in such a way to give an idea of their
Phylogenetic relationship that is the sequence of their origin and evolution from simpler, earlier and
more primitive types to more complex recent and advanced types during different periods. As the plant
life migrated from water to land it has undergone a series of successive changes. As results of
evolutionary development the lower and simpler form are developed in to higher and more complex
form.

Earlier classification of plants were based on their economic uses e.g. cereals, medicinal plants, fibers
yielding plants, oil yielding plants, or gross structural resemblance example herb, shrub, tree, climber,
these classification were incomplete as plants that did not fit in to such classification or were of no
economic value were ignored.

Therefore an ideal system of classification should not only indicate actual genetic relationship but should
also be reasonable convenient for practical purpose.

Pharmacognosy is the study of medicinal products or drugs obtained from plants, animals, microbes of
both terrestrial and marine origin some medicinal products also derived mineral source.

Classification of such drug from plant origin is prerequisite to the study of various aspect of plant
diversity. The main aim of classification to study the origin of plants and their evolution from simpler to
advanced form.

The systematic classification of particular plant help to have an idea about the probable presence of
secondary metabolites in it. Examples many family of umbellifereae contain volatile oils.

The naming of the plants and understanding of the species relationship to other species is essential for
the people working in the field of Pharmacognosy as this form a basis for correct identification and

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Introduction to Pharmacognosy.

authentication of crude drugs. Correctly indentified drugs will lead to phytopharmaceutical studies and
development of novel drugs.

Chemotaxonomy is the classification of plants based on chemical constituents in plants. It is assumed

that the relationship between various types of plants can be predicted based on the similarity in
chemical substance present in the them. Compound that belongs to the category of secondary
metabolites like alkaloids, flavonoids etc. are of great value in indentifying such relationship between
various plants.

This classification of crude drugs where taxonomy and biogenesis is given equal important and played
imp role in evolution of Pharmacognosy through the study of various secondary metabolites or chemical
constituents.

Chemotaxonomy recognizes that plants having similar constituents share similar medicinal properties
and nature, example all species of cinchona contain quinine and all are used in the treatment of malaria.

Pharmacognosy deals with systematic and scientific study of such plants and their constituents.

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