Identification and Pharmacognostical Analyses of Officinal Plants

Aim of this course is to provide knowledge on the tools for the recognition and identification of medicinal plants and herbal drugs, as well as on the techniques for the extraction and pharmacognostical analysis of herbal drugs for health and therapeutic purposes.
The first part will concern the acquisition of basic notions on the tools (herbarium specimens, traditional dichotomous keys, digital tools, etc.) and on their methods of application, in order to achieve the recognition, identification and classification of medicinal plants. The course also provides knowledge for the recognition and description of selected medicinal species belonging to different botanical families, with particular attention to diagnostic characters, and of a selection of herbal drugs or parts of medicinal plants.
Numerous practical classroom exercises are planned, as well as visits to the Città Studi Botanical Garden (Milan) and to the Ghirardi Botanical Garden (Toscolano Maderno, BS).
Moreover, students will have knowledge on methodologies and techniques for collection, preparation, extraction, storage and quality control of herbal drugs and their derivatives. The course gives the bases to understand the characteristics and pharmacological activities of secondary metabolites contained in medicinal plants.

At the end of the course, students will have acquired knowledge on the tools for recognizing and identifying medicinal plants and herbal drugs, along with the extraction techniques of herbal drugs; students will be able to describe the tools for identifying medicinal plants/herbal drugs and the processes of storage and quality control of herbal drugs and to identify the main classes of secondary metabolites and their biological effects.