Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry

Track 6: Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry

Pharmacognosy is the study of medicinal drugs derived from plants or other natural sources. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines Pharmacognosy as "the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of drugs, drug substances or potential drugs or drug substances of natural origin as well as the search for new drugs from natural sources. It is also defined as the study of crude drugs.

Phytochemistry is the study of phytochemicals, which are chemicals derived from plants. Specifically, Phytochemistry describes the large number of secondary metabolic compounds found in plants. Many of these are known to provide protection against insect attacks and plant diseases. They also exhibit a number of protective functions for human consumers.  Phytochemistry can be considered sub-fields of botany or chemistry. Activities can be led in botanical gardens or in the wild with the aid of ethno botany. The applications of the discipline can be for Pharmacognosy, or the discovery of new drugs, or as an aid for plant physiology studies

Global sales of plant products was totally estimated us $60 billion in 2002 and is expected to get higher at 6.4% average growth rate.