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 j ournal of herbal med ic ine 3 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 123–131

 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

 journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/ locate /hermed

Review

Trends in Pharmacognosy: A modern science of 

natural medicines

Namraj Dhami∗

School of Health and Allied Sciences, Pokhara University, Lekhnath 12, PO Box 427, Kaski, Nepal

a r t i c l e i n f o

 Article history:

Received 23 January 2013

Received in revised form

1 April 2013

Accepted 19 June 2013

Available online 30 July 2013

Keywords:

Pharmacognosy

Traditional medicine

Natural medicineHerbal medicine

Materia medica

Pharmaceutical sciences

a b s t r a c t

Natural medicines have been used to enhance human and veterinary health since time

immemorial andthe successofmodernmedical science largely dependsondrugs originally

obtained from natural resources. In the past, traditional medicinal knowledge prevalent in

the formof holybooks, incantations, folklores,MateriaMedica andotherhistoricalliterature

defined the preliminary guidelines for the authorization of plantderived naturalmedicines.

The conventionalmedical practicesadopted for identification andauthenticationof natural

remedies eventually framed the botanico-chemical approach to Pharmacognosy during the

early 19thcentury. However, the last200yearswitnesseda substantialmetamorphosisin the

principles andpractices of Pharmacognosy and it has becomean essential domainofmod-

ern pharmaceutical science as a multidisciplinary high-tech science of natural medicines.

In a contemporary context, the systematic study of natural medicines in terms of purity,potency, consistency and safety have become the major issues in Pharmacognosy. More-

over, most of thepresent day’s drug discoveries have been increasingly adopting traditional

medicine based approaches to increase results and to address safety concerns. Thus, Clin-

ical Pharmacognosy, Analytical Pharmacognosy and Industrial Pharmacognosy have been

established as the specialized and professional offshoots of Pharmacognosy to meet the

contemporary advancements in the field of Pharmacognosy. Furthermore, Molecular Phar-

macognosy, Genomic PharmacognosyandMetabolomic Pharmacognosyhave beendeemed

as the promising approaches of Pharmacognosy research to accommodate futuredemands

in molecular biology, biotechnology and analytical chemistry of natural medicines plus

medicinal plants. Nevertheless, interdisciplinary collaborative research programmes are

essential for integrated developmentof traditional medicines and Pharmacognosy research

and education.

© 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 124

2. Acquisition of medicinal knowledge in the past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

∗ Tel.: +977 61 561698; fax: +977 61 561697; mobile: +977 98 56034733.E-mail address: namraj.dhami@gmail.com

2210-8033/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

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3. Regulatory concerns in traditionalmedicines

Several historical indications have shown that the cautious

selection and conventional use of medicinal substances cre-

ated a substantial pool of traditional medicinal knowledge

worldwide.Generally, indigenousmedication systems includethe combination of traditional remedies with witchcraft,

mysticism, astrology and religious beliefs together with the

strict conventional regulatory norms, which are in fact the

continuation of past day’s effective practices, for selection

and prescription of traditional remedies (Dewick, 2002). The

age-old use of traditional medicines as mentioned in the

Vedas, Materia Medica, Medical Papyri and other historical

inscriptions have illustrated various diagnostic approaches

to the selection and use of natural substances to treat

particular health conditions. Even today, ethnomedicinal

practices widely adopt conventional regulatory approaches

to determine a specific remedy, mode of use, doses, time

of administration, toxicity, side effects, contraindication andother issues related to safetyandefficacyof natural remedies.

Likewise, information on geography and ecological condi-

tion of the medicinal plant growing sites is another concern

considered in traditional medicinal practices to insure the

quality of the remedies. Ayurvedic literatures including the

Vedas and other literary texts have clearly illustrated many

conventional practices related to the collection, processing,

storing, compounding and prescribing the natural remedies

(Misra and Rastogi, 2005). There is no doubt that traditional

herbal practitioners cautiously invented,developedandmain-

tained the regulatory guidelines to assure the quality, safety

andefficacy of traditional remedies andpractices (Nissen and

Evans, 2012). Thus, historical Holy books, writings, incanta-tions, beliefs, conventional practices and folklore of the past

became the preliminary guidelines for traditional indigenous

medicalpractices thateventuallystimulatedmodernpharma-

ceuticalsciencetoassurequality, safetyandefficacyof natural

remedies.

4. Transmission and transformation of traditional medicinal wisdom

The ancient use of traditional medicines has been illustrated

in various historical and religious literature and has also

emanatedanecdotallyin theformof folklore, incantationsand

other conventionalpractices. Vedas, themostpreciousHinduholy writings, which are said to have been composed dur-

ing the 2nd and 1st millenniumBCE, and subsequent ancient

inscriptions have shown the use of herbs, animal products

and minerals for medicinal purposes in Hindu practice from

theadvent of Hinduism(Chaudhary et al., 2001; Gewali, 2008).

Similarly, various Chinese legendary inscriptions have cor-

roborated nearly 5000 years of wisdom on medicinal herbs

for the treatment of various health conditions that even-

tually conceived the foundations of the Traditional Chinese

Medicine system (De Pasquale, 1984). The Biblical testaments

havementionedvariousherbs especially available in thevicin-

ity of Jerusalem for different medicinal purposes (Krymow,

2012). The Ebers Papyrus, dated around 1555 BCE, has

confirmed the use of medicinal plants to treat various ail-

ments during theperiod of the Egyptian regime. Furthermore,

the cuneiform tablets of Nivine, dated about 2000 BCE indi-

cateamuch advanced practice of naturalmedicines inancient

Mesopotamia (De Pasquale, 1984).

The historical evidence speculates the contemporary con-

ception of traditional medicinal wisdom in the east and

Mediterranean regions. However, the systematic analysis of historicalmateriamedica thatappearedfromHippocratic col-

lection in the Greece (5th century BCE) to the renaissance in

the 16th century suggests the transmission of ethnopharma-

cologicalknowledgefromeasternmateriamedica (Indianand

Chinese) to the Mediterranean medical traditions (Touwaide

and Appetiti, 2013). Touwaide and Appetiti (2013) reiterated

that the ethnopharmacological literature produced in the

Mediterranean region during the 5th century BCE to the 16th

century comprises the knowledge of materia medica and

drugs explicitly coming from India and/or China. In this con-

text, it is reasonable to emphasize that ancient Ayurvedic and

traditional Chinese medicine practitioners could be the pio-

neers in using traditional medicines and documentation of traditional medicinal wisdom. The transmission and trans-

formation of eastern materia medica in the Mediterranean

regions alongwith thegenesis of new experiences could have

eventually expanded thepool of traditional knowledge.

It is noteworthy of mention that the Greco-European

scholars initiated the trend setting works for translat-

ing multitudinous traditional medicinal wisdom into the

texts to harmonize traditional medicinal practices and prin-

ciples in the modern era. The “Corpus Hippocraticum”

of Hippocrates (460–377BC), “De Historia Plantarum” of 

Theophrastus (371–287BC) and “De materia medica” penned

by Dioscorides during the 1st century BC are the legendary

texts on diagnostic descriptionofmedicinal plants (Angeletti,1991; Majumdar, 1998; Ruel, 1546; Theophrastus, 1529). De

materia medica was one of the most influential texts about

collection, storage and use of natural medicinal substances

and it was adopted as a doctrine governing pharmaceutical

and medical practices for more than 1500 years by Euro-

pean doctors and pharmacists (De Pasquale, 1984; Pereira,

1857; Riddle, 2011). Similarly, Carolus Linnaeus wrote an

updated Materia Medica comprising the list of plants, min-

erals and animals of medicinal importance during the late

18th century which has been regarded as the main vehicle

for modernizing the Swedish and European medicine (Haas,

1993; Linnaeus and von Schreber, 1782; Linne, 2013). Thus, it

is obvious that the conventional diagnostic concepts and reg-ulatory guidelines stated in various historical texts, Materia

Medica, scholarly tales and anecdotes eventually became the

foundations of the science of traditionalmedicines.

5. Origin of Pharmacognosy: the science of crude drugs

The origin of Pharmacognosy is entirely based on the tra-

ditional medicinal practices and the credit for coining the

term ‘Pharmacognosy’ solely goes to the European world. In

fact, the traditionalmedical information compiled by various

European scholars in the form of Materia Medica and other

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medicaltextswasfurtherorganized in theformof Pharmacog-

nosyto incorporate identification, authentication,production,

processing, potency, purity, safety and other aspects of tra-

ditional medicinal substances. Most of the contemporary

literatureshave crediteda German-Austrianphysician Johann

Adam Schmidt (1759–1809) for coining the term Pharmacog-

nosy in his book “Lehrbuch der materia medica” which was

published posthumously in 1811. On the other hand, variousliteratures stated that the term “Pharmacognosy” appeared

initially in “Analecta pharmacognostica” published by C.A.

Seydler in 1815 (De Pasquale, 1984; Evans, 1996; Tyler, 1997).

Mary Elvira Weeks however mentioned in a legendary book

“Discoveryof theelements”thatUlisseAldrovandi(1522–1605)

was theprofessor of Pharmacognosy at University of Bologna,

Italy until 1605AD(Weeks, 1956). Apparently thepresence of a

Professor of Pharmacognosy speculates theexistence of well-

established research and academic activities in the field of 

Pharmacognosy in Bologna early in the 16th century. In this

connection, Bologna University internet archives stated that

Aldrovandi founded the Botanic garden of Bologna in 1568

and led as a director until his death (University of Bologna,2012). Thus, it is reasonable to state that Aldrovandi might

have introduced the term “Pharmacognosy” and became the

professor of Pharmacognosy. Therefore, the credited Owner-

ship of Schmidt or Seydler over the term “Pharmacognosy”

is disputable. It would be advisable to explore the Bologna

University antique scripts to establish thereal history of Phar-

macognosy research and education.

6. Meaning and evolution of Pharmacognosy

Etymologically, the term Pharmacognosy is composed of twoGreekwords, i.e. pharmakon (a drug) andgignosco (toacquire

knowledgeof)or gnosis (knowledge) (Evans, 1996; Tyler, 1997).

Thus, literally Pharmacognosy is “to acquire knowledge of 

drugs.” In the past, most of the drugs werederived fromherbs

and conventional pharmacognostical studies were focused

on the systematic study of medicinal plants and medicines

derived from plants. However, the interests and scope of 

Pharmacognosy were gradually expanded by incorporating 

applied domains of botany, chemistry, biology and pharma-

ceutical science. As mentioned by Verpoorte (2000), Tschirch

(1909) defined Pharmacognosy as the “science which has the

task to learn everything about drugs originating from plants

or animals in all aspects, except the physiological effect.”In the modern pharmaceutical domain, animals, bacteria,

fungi, marine organisms and minerals are also used as the

promising sources of traditional and modern medicines.

On the other hand, rapid advancements of analytical tech-

niques in phytochemistry, pharmacology, drug discovery and

biotechnology have made Pharmacognostical research very

informative and interesting. Thus, the conventional botanical

approach of Pharmacognosy hasbeen expanded andhasduly

accommodated modern scientific approaches to meet the

demand driven developments in pharmaceutical education

and research.

In this connection,Wallis (1985) explainedPharmacognosy

as a “Distinct department of pharmaceutical science dealing 

with the systematic study of structural, physical, chemical,

and sensory characters of crude drugs of animal, vegetable

andmineral origin including their history, cultivation andcol-

lection”. Whereas, Kinghorn (2001) defined Pharmacognosy

as the “pharmaceutical science that deals with the discovery,

characterization, production and standardization of drugs of 

natural origin”. According to Heinrich et al. (2003), contempo-

rary Pharmacognosydealswithmedicinal plants,crudedrugs,extracts, pure compounds and foods having health benefits

and it is, in fact, the “science of biogenic or nature derived

pharmaceuticals or poison”. Furthermore, Pharmacognosy is

also defined as “a molecular science that explores naturally

occurring structures and activity relationships with a drug 

potential” (Bruhn and Bohlin, 1997). The American Society of 

PharmacognosydefinesPharmacognosyas “thestudyof phys-

ical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of drugs,

drug substances or potential drugs or drug substances of nat-

ural origin as well as the search for new drugs from natural

sources” (ASP, 2012). Thus, in a contemporary context, Phar-

macognosyhasbecomeamultidisciplinary science of natural

drugs and drug substances and it deals with medicinal plantcultivation, crude drugproduction, chemical; biological; phar-

macological and molecular analysis of crude drugs and drug 

substances to assure their production, potency, purity and

safety aswell as to assist new drug discoveries.

7. Modernization of Pharmacognosy

Several historical indications have shown that Pharmacog-

nosy was evolved from early scientific studies on medicinal

herbs and it includes botanical and phytochemical aspects

of medicinal substances. There is considerable evidence that

illustrates the vigorous contribution of European scholars inthe documentation of traditional medicinal knowledge since

the timeof Hippocrates.However, available records show that

the first attempt for institutionalization of Pharmacognosy

research and teaching under its own title ‘Pharmacognosy’

was initiated in the Balkans by Julije Domac in the late 19th

century at the University of Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia)

(Inic andKujundzic, 2011). In the20th century, as theartificial

synthesis of industrial chemicals progressed, most of the

pharmaceutical industries and researchers veered towards

artificial synthesis of potential drugs (Verpoorte, 2000).

Gradually, complete or semi-synthesis of better tolerated

compounds replaced many of the old day’s plant drugs. Even-

tually, the research and development in the field of naturalmedicines declined and the proportion of Pharmacognosy

curriculum remarkably reduced in professional pharmacy

courses. Thus, until the middle of the 20th century, Pharma-

cognosy remained stagnant in its conventional descriptive

botanical approach (Tyler, 1997). Gradually, use of phytophar-

maceuticals, phytocosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals and other

herbal products increased substantially, particularly in devel-

oped countries during the last quarter of the 20th century

(Eisenberg et al., 1998; Ernst and White, 2000; Tindle et al.,

2005). Increasing popularity of multiple herb formulations

in traditional medicines has further sensitized the syner-

gistic approach of modern phytopharmaceutical research

in new drug discovery projects (Wagner, 2011; Wagner and

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Ulrich-Merzenich, 2009). Eventually, ethnopharmacology

based study of ethnomedicines and traditional herbal formu-

lation became one of the potential areas of research in the

field of Pharmacognosy by the end of 20th century. However,

the traces of pesticide, toxic residues and other inferior

substances inmedicinal plants andphytomedicines seriously

emphasized the need of quality control measures for the

productionof goodqualitymedicinal plants,crudedrugs,phy-topharmaceuticals and functional foods to secure the quality

of health service (Zuin and Vilegas, 2000). Moreover, produc-

tion of good quality crude drugs makes it difficult to fulfil the

steadily increasing demand of medicinal plant derived raw

materials to supply herbal andmodernpharma industries.

Substantial advancements in isolation and purification

techniques plus high throughput technologies for bioassays

andmolecular techniques encouraged the attention of mod-

ern pharmaceutical science towards analytical aspects of 

Pharmacognosy. There is a remarkable increase in research

and development of natural medicines and natural product

based modern medicines worldwide. Eventually, Pharmacog-

nosy research and teaching started to emphasize isolationandstructure elucidationof biologically activeprinciples from

natural resources worldwide (Brueggemeier, 1998). Interest-

ingly, biochemistry, pharmacology and molecular biology of 

medicinal plants have become important aspects of modern

Pharmacognosy. Thefirst5 years of the21stcenturywitnessed

the arrival ofmore than 20 natural product based drugs (Chin

et al., 2006). Thus, revival of herbal medicines considerably

increased the relevance of Pharmacognosy in pharmaceutical

education,research anddrugpolicy. Eventually, contemporary

Pharmacognosy has embraced the broad-spectrum aspects

of biological, biochemical, molecular, medical and socio-

scientific subjects and eventually has become a high-tech

science of natural medicines (Bruhn and Bohlin, 1997; Huang et al., 2010; Jones et al., 2006; Kinghorn, 2001; Phillipson, 2007;

Verpoorte,2000). Consequently, identification, authentication,

cultivation,production, quality assessment, biochemical, bio-

logical and molecular studies of natural drugs and drug 

substances have been established as the main aspects of 

Pharmacognosy. Eventually, themodern curricula of pharma-

ceutical sciences have undergone substantial changes and

Pharmacognosy has become one of the core streams of phar-

maceutical research and education.

8. Prospects of Pharmacognosy research

and education

A large proportion of the world population has already

adopted ‘back to the nature’ strategy to maintain a health-

ier life and still there is an increasing trend of using natural

medicine based in complementary and alternative therapies

in developed as well as developing countries (Dhami, 2008;

Eisenberg et al., 1998; Ernst and White, 2000; Faurtel et al.,

2002; Kadayat et al., 2012; Sen et al., 2011). It is estimated that

about 300,000 plant species are found worldwide and about

10% of them are considered asmedicinally important (Evans,

1996). There is no doubt that botanical medicines are, by far

the most promising natural remedies today and it is essen-

tial to explore the huge pool of plant genetic resources for

further identification of potential drugs (Balunas and

Kinghorn, 2005; Harvey, 2000). Plant derived natural prod-

ucts such as vinblastine, vincristine, taxol and artimisinin

have already been introduced into the modern pharma-

ceutical medicine chest as high value drugs and a large

number of natural products are under investigation in clin-

ical trials (Fabricant and Farnsworth, 2001; Phillipson, 2007).

However, a large proportion of natural resources are yet tobe explored to unravel their medicinal potentialities. Besides

higher plants (vascular plants), natural medicines from lower

plants (bryophytes), animals, bacteria, fungi and marine

organismsareincreasinglyof interestinmoderndrugresearch

(Cordell,2000). Similarly, severalnaturalsubstanceshave been

usedto treat variousveterinarydiseasesthathavenotyetbeen

evaluated (Grade et al., 2009; Lans et al., 2007a, 2007b). Fur-

thermore, the materia medica of wild animals is an exciting 

fieldof research fornewdrug discovery fromnaturalresources

(Huffman, 2001; Raman and Kandula, 2008). In modern phar-

maceutical research, ethnopharmacology based approaches

have becomepromising strategies for the research anddevel-

opment of next generation therapeutic solutions (Dewick,2002). Interestingly, the concept of reverse Pharmacognosy

and reverse pharmacology approaches, that follow ‘molecule

to organism’ strategy, has been emerging to enhance the

success rate in new drug discovery endeavours (Blondeau

et al., 2010; Do and Bernard, 2004, 2006; Patwardhan et al.,

2008). Furthermore, the systematic study of traditional herbal

formulations and ethnomedicines offer an exciting area of 

research on plant taxonomy, collection and cultivation of 

medicinal plants, quality control, phytochemical screening,

isolation of active principles, biological activity analysis and

potential drug interactions to validate ethnomedicines and to

facilitate new drug discovery (Kinghorn, 2001, 2002).

Ina contemporary context,pharmaeducationand researchprimarily focused on clinical aspects of pure compounds and

traditional medicines are rarely considered as main stream

drugs. It would probably not be an overestimation to say that

the clinical pharmacists today, in fact, are allopathic pharma-

cists and show little or no interest at all in production, quality

controlandpharmacologyofnaturalmedicines andmedicinal

substances(Kawazoe, 2011;Makino,2011). Theincreasingcon-

cerns about clinical practices of natural medicines especially

herbal products and functional foods are challenging issues

to regulate locally and internationally (Kawazoe, 2011). How-

ever, there are plenty of research and education programmes

related to traditional medicines and drug discovery from

natural resources worldwide. Thus, the time has come for

academic institutions aswell as pharmaceutical industries to

recruitphytopharmacueticalexperts innaturalmedicines like

Ayurveda, Kampo,Western andTraditional ChineseMedicine

to assure potency, purity and safety of natural medicines.

From a regulatory perspective the formulation of herbal

pharmacopoeia andmonographs isgaining increasingpriority

worldwide to standardize natural medicines. The Ameri-

can herbal pharmacopoeia, British herbal pharmacopoeia

and EuropeanScientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy (ESCOP)

monographs have already established a trend of formulat-

ing referred texts on plant medicines (AHP, 2011; BHP, 1996;

ESCOP, 2003, 2009). In this connection, it is noteworthy to

mention the rigorous efforts of the European Directorate for

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the Quality of Medicines and Health Care (EDQM) for the

development andcoordination of official quality standards of 

medicinal substances including allopathic, homoeopathic as

well as herbal products (EDQM, 2013). Similarly, the Commit-

teeonHerbalMedicinal Products (HMPC)hasbeenestablished

as a regulatory body of theEuropeanMedicinesAgency (EMA)

for harmonization of procedures and provisions concern-

ing the safety and efficacy of herbal medicinal substancesand their preparations. The community herbal monographs

of EMA are the official references of HMPC that comprise

clinical as well as non-clinical data on herbal substances

(EMA, 2013). A final community monograph can be used in

application reference material by an applicant seeking a tra-

ditional use registration for a medicinal product. Also, the

Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India is one of the most referred

to legal documents to regulate Ayurvedic medicines in India

(Govt. of India, 2001). However, many developing countries

are falling behind in regulating the natural medicine sector

even though a huge pool of indigenousmedicinal information

andhistorically testednatural remedies are still in practice in

developing countries. TheWorld Health Organization (WHO)has already formulated international standards in the form

of herbal pharmacopoeia,monographs and regulations about

safe and sustainable use of medicinal plants (WHO, 2002,

2003, 2007). Thus, it is a prerequisite to have a country’s own

herbal pharmacopoeia andmonographs to standardize com-

plementary andalternative therapies. On the other hand, the

commercial exploitation and legal protection of traditional

knowledge, ethnomedicines, medicinal plants and medici-

nal plant derived active principles are emerging issues to be

addressed urgently (Overwalle, 2006). TheConvention on Bio-

logical Diversity (CBD) hasalreadyadoptedNagoyaprotocol to

ensure access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable

sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources(CBDSecretariat, 2010). Thus, there is anurgentneed for inte-

grated research in traditionalmedicines for bioprospecting of 

natural resources and securing intellectual property rights on

indigenous healing knowledge and technologies (Overwalle,

2006; Verpoorte, 1998).

Furthermore, the modern advance in high throughput

analytical techniques has revolutionized the current trends

in modern Pharmacognosy. Various specialized branches

like Analytical Pharmacognosy, Clinical Pharmacognosy, and

Industrial Pharmacognosy have appeared as the professional

streams of modern Pharmacognosy to accommodate con-

temporary advancements in technologies and to address

the increasing demand of safety and efficacy issues (Bruhn

and Bohlin, 1997; Huang et al., 2010; Kazemi et al., 2012;

Makino, 2011). The substantial increase in the use of nat-

ural medicines has indicated a bright future of Industrial

Pharmacognosy for commercial production of good quality

medicinal herbs as well as natural drugs. Production of high

yielding varieties of medicinal plants and biologically active

natural products by plant tissue culture and bioreactor tech-

nology are promising domains of Industrial Pharmacognosy.

On the other hand, modern biotechnological, bioinformat-

ics and high throughput analytical approaches have created

enormous opportunities to study medicinal plants at gene,

protein and metabolite level. Plant Functional Genomics

and Plant Metabolomics have been emerging as robust

strategies to address thequality concerns of herbal drugs and

medicinal plants based on their genome and metabolome

analysis (Kliebenstein and Osbourn, 2012; Ulrich-Merzenich

et al., 2007; Veenstra, 2012;Wishart, 2008; Yulianaet al., 2011).

Thus, Genomic Pharmacognosy and Metabolomic Pharma-

cognosy have been deemed as a promising field of research

to lead modern Pharmacognosy that would definitely offer

tremendous opportunities for higher education, cutting edgeresearchanddevelopmentof Pharmacognosy in the21st cen-

tury. However, being a multidisciplinary science of natural

medicines, it is essential to cultivate an interdisciplinary and

international collaboration among the experts in different

interrelated disciplines, e.g. traditional medicine practition-

ers, ethnobotanists, zoologists, taxonomists, agriculturists,

anthropologists, ethnopharmacologists, phytochemists, clin-

ical pharmacists, molecular biologists, biotechnologists, and

others to secure a promising future of Pharmacognosy.

9. Conclusion

Pharmacognosy, the modern science of natural medicines,

is based on traditional medicines used in different parts of 

the world. Traditional medical heritages of Ayurveda, Tradi-

tional Chinesemedicine, Greco-European medicine, Egyptian

medicine, Kampo medicine and others are important pre-

cursors for the development of Pharmacognosy and pharma

science. European legendary scholars gradually compiled tra-

ditional medicinal knowledge and pharmacy practices in the

form of Materia Medica that eventually evolved into a new

stream of learning, i.e. Pharmacognosy. The increasing use

of modern medicines during the latter half of the 19th cen-

tury and early days of 20th century gradually combined the

contemporary developments in Pharmacognosy and clinicalaspects of pharmacy education became dominant. However,

during the latter half of 20th century the remnants of con-

ventional Pharmacognosy re-emerged along with the herbal

resurgence in thewesternworld andeventuallyquality, safety

andefficacy of natural remedies becamegeneral issues. How-

ever a huge proportion of Amazon, the Mediterranean and

most of the tropical biomes are still unexplored. There-

fore, urgent action is essential for bioprospecting of natural

resources and conservation of indigenous healing knowledge

and technologies in these areas. In this context, ethnophar-

macology and zoopharmacognosy based approaches have

become extremely relevant issues for new drug discovery.

Thus, Pharmacognosy, as a science of natural medicineshas accommodated conventional botanico-chemical prac-

tices as well as contemporary improvements to secure its

multidisciplinary nature. The advancement in high output

analytical andmolecular techniques has established Pharma-

cognosy as a multidisciplinary high-tech science of natural

medicines and it becomes one of the core disciplines in

pharmaceutical research and education. In the process of 

advancement, Analytical Pharmacognosy, Clinical Pharma-

cognosy, and Industrial Pharmacognosy have appeared as

the professional streams of modern Pharmacognosy. Further-

more, Molecular Pharmacognosy, Genomic Pharmacognosy

andMetabolomic Pharmacognosy are emerging as the robust

domains of next generation Pharmacognosy research and

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 j ournal of herbal medi c ine 3 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 123–131 129

education to keep pace with demand drivendevelopments in

the field of molecular biology, bioinformatics and biotechnol-

ogy. However,being amultidisciplinary scienceof crudedrugs,

interdisciplinary and international collaboration among the

expertiseof different interrelated disciplines is indispensable

tosecureanemergingyetpromising futureofPharmacognosy.

Conflict of interest 

There is no any conflict of interest related to financial, per-

sonal or organizational affairs appertaining to this review

paper.

Acknowledgements

All the scholarly authors of the literatures cited in this review

are duly acknowledged because their works inspired andsup-

portedtheauthor tocreate thismanuscript. Special thanksare

offered to the reviewer of this manuscript Dr Desmond Corri-gan for critical comments and B.N. Lamichhane for language

adjustments.

r e f e r ence s

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