PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY WITH TAXONOMY

What is BOTANY?
➢ Study of plants”
➢ from the Greek word “botanikus” or “botane” - “plant or herb”
➢ or from the French word “Botanique” - botanical
➢ is the science that studies the external and internal structure of plants, the
characteristics of processes of vital activities, classification, interrelation with
environmental conditions, distribution, and significance in nature and human life
➢ One of the oldest sciences about edible, medicinal, and poisonous plants
➢ Plant life can be studied from different perspectives - from the molecular level through
organelles, cells, tissues, organs, individuals, and communities of plants
PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY
➢ is the discipline forming theoretical knowledge of flora and practical
skills of plant analysis necessary in future work of the specialist
pharmacist
➢ Pharmaceutical botany with taxonomy is the study of how plants of
certain classifications can be used for their medicinal benefits. This type
of study makes it possible to determine suspension, medicine flavoring,
lasting effects, and manufacturing capabilities.
ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
Ancient Period
Primitive men
◦ can distinguish edible from poisonous plants through a system of trial and error
Egyptians
Ebers Papyrus
◦ one of the oldest medical records
Greeks
The Ancient Greeks
Aristotle – studied the “nature” of plants and was the 1st man to become familiar with
a wide range of biological facts
Pedanius Dioscorides
◦ He described 600 kind of plants, with comments on their habit of growth
and form and their medicinal properties
◦ He group his plant under three headings: aromatics, culinary, and
medicinal, unlike Theoprastus, who classified plant as trees, shrubs, and
herbs.
 ◦ De Materia Medica – studied the medicinal values of plants
Theophrastus- was known as the “Father of Botany”
◦ the first writings that show human curiosity about plants appear in the
teachings of Aristotle’s student, Theophrastus, in 371–286 B.C.E.
◦ He wrote two large books, On the History of Plants and On the Causes of
Plants. These books contained so much information about plants that
1,800 years went by before any new discovery in botany was made
THE ANCIENT ROMAN
Piny the Elder
◦ Roman writer who compiled an encyclopedia of 37 volumes, compiled from
some 2,000 works representing 146 romans and 327 Greek
◦ authors-has 16 volumes devoted to plants.
Gaspard Bauhin (Swiss botanist)
➢ Established the concept of genus
➢ He group morphologically similar species in the same genus
MODERN PERIOD
Carolus Linnaeus- Father of Taxonomy
❑ Specis Plantarum (masterwork)- contains descriptions of 6,000 species of plants
from all of the parts of the world known at the time (is still the basic reference
work for modern plant taxonomy)
❑ He established the practiced of binomial nomenclature-the denomination of
each kind of plant by two words, the genus name and specific name, e.g. Rosa
canina, the dog rose
Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu (French physician and botanist)
❑ Help organize plant and arrange them systematically in botanical gardens based
on their characteristics
❑ Published Genera Plantarum Secundum Ordines Naturales Disposita
❑ He introduced a natural system of classification that was based on distinguishing
plant relationships by looking at a larger number of characteristics.
Gregor Mendel (Austrian Scientist)
❑ Believed that there was a “factor” that the parents passed on the offspring,
which later on was referred to as the “gene”
 ❑ Mendel’s Law of Inheritance
❑ Gregor Johann Mendel
❑ The father of Genetics

19th century
Charles Darwin
❑ The Origin of Species
❑ Introduced the scientific theory of natural selection (survival of the fittest)
❑ Charles Robert Darwin
❑ Simulated interests in reconstructing the family tree/phylogeny of the plant
kingdom
Leon Ma. Guerrero
❑ Father of Philippine Botany
❑ A nationalist scientist and was born in Ermita, Manila
❑ Also dubbed, as the first Filipino industrial scientist, forensic chemist and “Father of
Philippine Pharmacy”
PLANT CLASSIFICATION
Classification
◦ Is a grouping and ordering of organisms according to artificial, natural, and
phylogenetic relationships.
◦ Aspect of the science of taxonomy
◦ It is important to sort and organize the large amounts of data about organisms to
be able to provide hypotheses about their evolutionary relationships.
◦ Classification has practical uses such as identifying which species are threatened
and/or endangered.
◦ At present, we already have more or less 375 000 different identified species of
plants- many are still being discovered.
◦ Taxonomy as a dynamic field deals with how orderliness and convenience can be
achieved in classification despite the diversity among living organisms.
TYPES OF CLASSIFICATION
NATURAL SYSTEM
▪ Adopts the evolutionary history of the organisms being categorized.
▪ Most taxonomists use the natural system of classification, which is anchored on natural
selection and states that organism may be related to one another distantly, closely, or
genetically
▪ The study of evolution, which covers many aspects such as the evolution of metabolism,
reproduction, and morphology.
▪ For deeper and more accurate results, scientist rely on the natural system of
classification
ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM
▪ Uses several key characteristics that are mostly physical and often easy to observe as the
basis for classifying organism
▪ It does not take into consideration the plants’ evolutionary relationships.
▪ if you are after easy plant identification using only the organism’s external features and
habits
▪ Novice botanist, artificial classification will work
LEVELS OF TAXONOMIC CATEGORIES
Living things are classified into a hierarchy of categories. The most general category is
the “super kingdom” or domain, followed by the kingdom. Each group within a
kingdom is called a division (phylum in the animal kingdom). Each group within a
division is called a class. Within a class, each group is called an order. Each related
group within an order is a family. Below the level of the family is the level of the
genus. A genus is usually composed of one or more species.
Super kingdom (domain): Eukarya
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Cucumis
Species: Sativus
Scientific name : Cucumis sativus
Common name: Cucumber

Bases of the artificial system of classifying plants

➢ Size – plant may be microscopic or macroscopic. Microscopic plants are those that
cannot be seen with the naked eye, while macroscopic plants are those that can be seen
with the naked eye. Plants that you see around you are mostly macroscopic
➢ Food procurement
▪ Autotropic- plant that manufacture their own food through photosynthesis (e.g.,
all green plants)
▪ Heterotrophic- those that depend on other organisms or decayed organic matter
for food (e.g., all carnivorous plants)
➢ Habitat- place where the plants live
▪ Aquatic plants- plants that live in water (e.g., hydrilla, water hyacinth)
▪ Aerial plants- those that live above the ground or are attached to other objects
for support(e.g. orchids)
▪ Terrestrial plants- those that live on land
➢ Water Requirement
▪ Xerophytes- live in places with litter water as in deserts ( e.g., cacti, acacia, and
makahiya)
▪ Mesophytes- require a moderate amount of water supply (e.g. santan, rose, and
sampaguita)
▪ Hydrophytes- those that live in habitats of abundant water supply (e.g., water
hyacinth, and digman)
➢ Habit- refers to body appearance
▪ Trees- tall, woody perennial plants with a single stem or trunk (e.g., narra,
mahogany and santol)
▪ Shrubs- short, woody, perennial plants, with several main stems arising at or near
the ground (e.g., gumamela, santan, and rose)
▪ Herbs- those with soft stem (e.g., oregano, sabila, and mayana)
▪ Vines- climbing plants ( e.g., squash, patola, and beans)
 ➢ Life span- average length of time an organism can be expected to survive
▪ Annuals- have the shortest life span. They live within a year or for one growing
season only ( e.g., onion, garlic, and patola)
▪ Biennials- complete their life cycles in two years ( e.g., mayana, papaya, and
potato)
▪ Perennials- live for many years
SUBFIELDS OF BOTANY
❑ Agronomy- study of crop production
❑ Bryology- study of Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts
❑ Economic botany- the place of plants in economics
❑ Ethnobotany- relationship between humans and plants
❑ Forestry-study of Forest management and related studies
❑ Horticulture- study of Cultivated plants
❑ Paleobotany- study of Fossil plants
❑ Palynology- study of Pollen and spores
❑ Phycology- the study of Algae
❑ Phytochemistry- study of Plant secondary chemistry and chemical processes
❑ Phytopathology- study of Plant diseases
❑ Plant anatomy- study of Cell and tissue structure
❑ Plant ecology- study of the role of plants in the environment
❑ Plant genetics- study of Genetic inheritance in plants
❑ Plant morphology- study of Structure and life cycles
❑ Plant physiology- study of Life functions of plants
❑ Plant systematics/ nomenclature- study of Classification and naming of plants
❑ Phytogeography or Plant Geography
❑ treats of the distribution of plants upon the earth. The center of distribution for
each species of plant is the habitat or the original source from which it spreads,
often over widely distant regions.
❑ When plants grow in their native countries, they are said to be indigenous to
those regions.
 ❑ When they grow up in a locality other than their original home, they are said
to be naturalized.
❑ Etiology-the study of the causes of various phenomena exhibited by plants
In the Pharmacy practice, the scope of BOTANY includes;
Anatomy of plants
• basis for microscopic analysis of medicinal and plant raw material
Morphology
• Basis of macroscopical analysis of medicinal plant raw material
Physiology of plants
• studying the metabolism and the accumulation of biologically active substances
Morphology treats the parts or structures of plants. It is divided into:
1. Macromorphology or Gross Anatomy
➢ which deals with the external characters of plants or their parts;
2. Micromorphology or Histology
➢ which considers the minute or microscopical structure of plants and plant
tissues;
3. Cytology
➢ which treats plant cells and their contents.
Physiology
deals with the study of the life processes or functions of plants. It explains how the
various parts of plants perform their work of growth, reproduction, and the preparation of food
for the support of animal life from substances not adapted to that use.
Taxonomy or Systematic Botany
For plant identification in nature
Considers the classification or arrangement of plants in groups or ranks in accordance
with their relationships to one another
Hypothesis - is simply tentative, unproven explanation for something that has been observed
- may be correct or incorrect, determine through or by testing or experimenting
Types of variables in doing an experiment:
1. Independent - “changed or manipulated” , one that is changed by the scientist
2. Dependent - are affected by our changes to the independent variables
3. Controlled - variables wherein the scientist wants to remain constant
Principles - these are useful generalizations formulated from the bits of information gathered
when the hypothesis testing
Theory - group of generalizations (principles) which are not simply a guess
- are formulated to explain, predict, and understand phenomena and, in many cases,
to challenge and extend existing knowledge within the limits of critical bounding assumptions.
- “THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK” structure which holds and supports a theory of a
research study

Rules for Writing a Scientific Name

➢ Scientific names are always italicized.
In hand-written texts, it can be underlined instead

➢ The genus is always capitalized, even when occurred in the middle of the
sentence.
➢ Example: Antibiotic resistance observed in Escherichia coli.
The species is never capitalized, even when it refers to the name of a place or person.
➢ Example: Escherichia coli, not Escherichia Coli
If a species is unknown, the abbreviation “sp.” is used in place of the species name and is
non-italicized.
The abbreviation “spp.” is similarly used to indicate a group of unknown species.
The term “sp. novo” is used to indicate a species that is being described for the first
time.
➢ A species name is never used without a genus or genus abbreviation.
o Example: Tribolium confusum or T. confusum but never just confusum.
➢ Genus by itself can be used to refer to multiple species within the genus.
o Example: There are many species of Drosophila that are affected by exposure to
alcohol.
➢ The initials or full name of the scientist who named or discovered the species may
appear after the scientific name in some cases. The scientist or the individual’s name is
not to be italicized.
▪ Example: Juncus inflexus L..
Ten (10) Herbal Medicines in the Philippines Approved by the Department of Health (DOH)

1. Akapulko (Cassia alata)

also known as "bayabas-bayabasan" and "ringworm bush“
treat ringworms and skin fungal infections.
2. Ampalaya (Momordica charantia)
- known as "bitter gourd" or "bitter melon"
-lowers blood sugar levels
3. Bawang (Allium sativum)
- popularly known as "garlic“
-it mainly reduces cholesterol in the blood and hence, helps
control blood pressure.
4. Bayabas (Psidium guajava)
-"guava" in English.
-anti-diarrheal and antiseptic
-for toothache
5. Lagundi (Vitex negundo)
-known in English as the "5-leaved chaste tree".
-It's main use is for the relief of coughs and asthma
6. Niyog-niyogan (Quisqualis indica L.)
- known as "Chinese honey suckle".
- It is effective in the elimination of intestinal worms (Anti-helmintic),
particularly the Ascaris and Trichina.
7. Sambong (Blumea balsamifera)
- English name: Blumea camphora
- A diuretic that helps in the excretion of urinary stones. It can also be
used as an edema
8. Tsaang Gubat (Ehretia microphylla Lam.)
- -Wild Tea
- - this herbal medicine is effective in treating intestinal motility and also
used as a mouth wash since the leaves of this shrub has high fluoride
content.
9. Ulasimang Bato (Peperomia pellucida)
- - pansit-pansitan (Tagalog)
- - It is effective in fighting arthritis and gout.
[Link] Buena (Clinopodium douglasii)
• commonly known as Peppermint,
• used as an analgesic to relive body aches and pain.