Introduction

to
Pharmacognosy
The word Pharmacognosy is derived from the Greek "Pharmakon", meaning a drug and
"gnosis" meaning to acquire a knowledge of and literally meaning of Pharmacognosy is
“knowledge of drugs” or to acquire knowledge of drugs". Pharmacognosy is mainly concerned
with the study of naturally occurring substances having medicinal or therapeutic properties.
The term Pharmacognosy was first introduced by the Austrian physician Schmidt in 1811 and
then in 1815 by Seydler in a work titled Analecta Pharmacognostica.

Definition
Pharmacognosy is the systematic study of crude drugs obtained from natural origin like plant,
animal and minerals. Pharmacognosy can be defined as a branch of science which involves
detail study of drugs obtained from natural origin including name, habitat, collection,
cultivation, macroscopy, microscopy, physical properties, chemical constituents, therapeutic
actions, uses and adulterants.

Origin
Pharmacognosy had its origin in the health related activities of the most primitive human race
of the remote past. The processes that contributed to the early man’s search for cures and
selection of the medicament from the plants growing in their environment include:
1. Guesswork: This requires application of intelligence.
2. The healing powers of some plants were undoubtedly discovered by accident.
3. Curiosity and search for food: These contributed to their knowledge about the medicinal
and edible plants and their virtues.
4. Signature of nature: Superficial resemblance between the plant parts and the affected
organs or some symptoms of ailment guided in the selection of drugs.
5. Observations on the animals: Observing other animals helped to discriminate between
toxic and palatable plants and to choose plants that were beneficial from nutritive and
medicinal standpoints.
6. Trial and error: Any biological source (mainly plant) is tried for cure and then discard
if found to be not useful. Otherwise if it was found to be beneficial it was repeatedly
use.

Application of Pharmacognosy
1. Traditionally, pharmacognosy was recognized as a vital part of drug development
processes and pharmacy education. Pharmacognosy is used by pharmaceutical
 companies to screen, characterize and produce new drugs for the treatment of human
disease. Often, naturally occurring drugs cannot be mass-produced, so they must be
studied in order to develop synthetic biosimilars.
2. Producing these compounds synthetically allows modifications to be made, such as
increases in their bioavailability, altered pharmacokinetics, and improved efficacy.
These modifications can transform a crude inactive plant extract into a powerful drug,
as has been observed in certain anticancer drugs. E.g. natural morphine has got
analgesic & narcotic effect but meperidine a synthetic drug originates from morphine
basic skeleton is non- narcotic.
3. Plant & animal products give potential biological effect without any undesirable effects.
As these are biological products they have good tolerate profile than the synthetic
counterparts.

Limitations of Pharmacognosy
1. A natural compound may be highly active but usually this is associated with high
toxicity problem. E.g. the toxic and therapeutic dose of digitalis are very close which
create serious problem to use this medicine by the patient alone.
2. Some compounds are found in natures that give beneficial pharmacological actions but
their potencies are too low to be employed therapeutically.
3. The yield of active natural products may be very low and thus the production cost of
those drugs will be very high.
4. The source of a natural drug may be very limited with respect to geography, season,
climate etc.
Pharmacognosy and modern medicine
Various active compounds have been isolated from plants which are used in modern medicine.
Plants provide basic raw material for some of the most important drugs. Some of these plant-
derived drugs of modern medicine are listed below:

Therapeutic uses Drugs Plant sources

Vasodilator Ajmalicine, Deserpidine, Reserpine, Rauwolfia serpentina

Hypotensive Rescinnamine, Vincamine Catharanthus roseus
Vinca minor
Vasoconstrictor Ergometrine, Ergotamine, Ergotoxine Claviceps purpurea

CNS stimulant Caffeine Camellia sinensis

Strychnine Coffea arabica
Strychnos nux-vomica
Narcotic, Analgesic Cocaine Erythroxylum coca
Anaesthetic Morphine Papaver somniferum

Anti-cancer Vinblastine, Vincristine Catharanthus roseus

Podophyllotoxin Podophyllum peltatum
Taxol Taxus serpentina
Cardiotonic Digitoxin. Digoxin, Digitalis lanata
Lanatosides Strophanthus kombe
Strophanthin
Anti-malarial Quinine, Quinidine Cinchona species

Anti-inflammatory Steroidal hormones Dioscorea species

Glycyrrhizin Glycyrrhiza glabra
Hydrastine Hydrastis canadensis
Smooth muscle Theobromine Theobroma cacao
relaxant Theophylline Camellia sinensis
Papaverine Papaver somniferum
Anti-spasmodic Camphor Cinnamomum camphora
Mydriatic Atropine Atropa belladonna
Parasympatholytic Hyoscine Datura,Hyoscyamus
Hyoscyamine species
Metabolites
Metabolites are the intermediate products produced during metabolism catalyzed by various
enzymes that occur naturally within cells. Metabolites help in structuring, signalling,
stimulating and inhibitory effects on enzymes.
There are two types such as primary metabolites and Secondary metabolites.
Primary metabolites are directly involved in normal growth, development and reproduction of
the plants. These are carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids.
Secondary metabolites are the chemicals produced by plants for which no direct roles have yet
been found in growth, photosynthesis, reproduction or other primary functions. They play an
important role in plant defence against herbivory. These are glycosides, tannins, alkaloids,
terpenoids, flavonoids etc.

Important terminologies
Drug
Any article, whether natural or synthetic, having therapeutic and medicinal properties and used
in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of diseases in man and other animals.
Crude drug
The term “Crude” is used in relation to natural products. Crude drugs are natural substances of
plant, animal or mineral origin, having therapeutic properties and pharmacological actions and
have undergone no treatment other than collection and drying, i.e. their quality or medicinal
value has not been advanced or improved by any processing. For example, Digitalis leaf,
Rauwolfia root etc.
Traditional medicine
A group of medicinal preparations, which are prepared by ancient technology. WHO defines
traditional medicine as- Traditional medicine is the sum total of all knowledge and practice,
whether applicable or not, used in the diagnosis, prevention and elimination of physical, mental
and social imbalance, relying exclusively on practical experience and observations handed
down from generation to generation verbally or in writing.
Herbal Medicine
The term ‘Herbal medicine’ refers to some medicinal preparations or compounds which are
made of one or more plant drugs or medicinal plants or their parts and organs. They may also
contain some additional inactive or neutral ingredients that serves the purposes of
pharmaceutical necessities.
Natural substance
Substances found in nature which comprise of whole plants or animals, their parts or organs,
saps or secretions, extracts and other constituents which have not undergone changes in their
molecular structures as found in nature.
Materia Medica
This means materials of medicine. The term refers to medicinal substances and products
derived from natural sources.
Formulary
A publication which contains a list of patent medicines with their ingredients and brief notes
on their pharmacological properties and therapeutic uses, published by the relevant authority
of a country as a guide for practitioners of medicine and pharmacy. Ex- Bangladesh National
Formulary (BDNF), British National Formulary (BNF), National Formulary (NF) etc.
Pharmacopoeia
An official publication, which lists various drugs and therapeutic agents of current use with
their monographs and specifies tests and standards for them. Ex- British Pharmacopoeia (BP),
United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), British Pharmaceutical Codex (BPC), Physician’s Index,
Martin Dale Extra Pharmacopoeia etc.
Monograph
The descriptive material pertaining to any drug or therapeutic agent or preparation included in
the pharmacopoeia is known as the monograph.
The monograph of a crude drug generally include the following information on the drugs:
1. Official title, synonym, definition, rubric, description,
2. Special conditions of collection or preparation for the market,
3. Identity tests, tests for adulterants, method of assay, storage requirements, amount of
foreign organic matters
4. Uses and doses.
Official Drug
Any substance or drug (crude or prepared), which is included in the current issue of the
pharmacopoeia of a country and is officially used for therapeutic purposes, is called an official
drug. For example, quinine, morphine, codeine, paracetamol are included in BP, USP, NF and
so on.
Unofficial drug
A drug, which has once been recognized as a drug in the pharmacopoeia, but not included in
the current issue of the pharmacopoeia or any official Drug literature, is designated as an
unofficial drug. Those substances were excluded from the recognized books due to their severe
toxic effects on humans. For example, Sucralfate (hyperacidity), mercurial compounds
(diuretics), benzoic acid (preservative) etc.
Non-official drug
A non-official drug is a substance, which possesses some medicinal properties and is
unofficially used for therapeutic purposes, but has never been included as a therapeutic item in
the pharmacopoeia or any official drug literature of any country. Such types of compounds may
be published in current journals having proven clinical value, but we do not know about their
side effects. For example - Curcumine (sinusitis), etc.
Constituents
Chemical substances, present in the cells of some plant or animal organs, that exert some
physiological or pharmacological actions on living organisms are referred to as active
constituents or active principles.
Extractive
The crude mixtures of chemical constituents that are removed from plant or animals by various
extraction processes are called extractives or derivatives.
Flora
The term flora refers to the plant population of a particular geographical area or country.
Indigenous
Plants and animals growing or living in their native countries are said to be indigenous to those
regions. For example, Aconite (Aconitum napellus) in the mountainous region of Europe.
Naturalised
Plants or animals are said to be naturalized when they grow or live comfortably in a foreign
land or in a locality other than their native homes. For example, Datura (Datura stramonium)
which was introduced into the USA from Europe.

For detailed description of each individual drug the following points are to be considered:
1. Origin: including biological and geographical sources, a knowledge of the history and
name of the drug.
2. Cultivation and preparation: including details of cultivation of the medicinal plants,
methods of collection, drying, packing and other treatment of the drug during its
preparation for the market.
3. Characters: including the physical characters such as dimensions, surface characters,
fracture and the sensory characters such as colour, odour and taste. The histological
 characters which help in the identification of the drug in powdered form, are of
fundamental importance.
4. Constituents and tests: constituents include both the reputed active constituents and also
other constituents and reserve food materials. Chemical identity tests are based on the
nature of constituents.
5. Adulterants: including materials added fraudulently and matter which has become
associated with the drug owing to carelessness in handling during collection,
preparation, packing and transport. For ex: Diethylene glycol, used dangerously by
some winemakers in sweet wines, Water, for diluting milk and alcoholic beverages,
Apple jellies (jams), as substitutes for more expensive fruit jellies.
6. Evaluation of the physical and chemical characters of the drug.
7. Uses and application of the drug in medicine.