The American herbal pharmacopoeia -The marriage of traditional herbalism and classical pharmacognosy

Abstract

The origins of pharmacognosy span from before the first century to the present day. Throughout most of its history pharmacognosy paralleled the history of herbal medicine beginning with the roots, barks, leaves, and seeds that made up the traditional crude herb materia medica to relatively recent innovations that led to isolation, purification, and standardization of modern plant-based pharmaceuticals. Worldwide there is a resurgence in traditional herbal medicine which makes the traditional plant-based knowledge of yesteryear's pharmacognosist equally as important as the reliance on chemical and molecular technologies used in modern drug development. This presentation will trace the roots of pharmacognosy from its historical beginnings to the needs of the natural medicine market today.