"Pharmacognosy" derives from two Greek words, "pharmakon" or drug, and "gnosis" or knowledge. While representing a classical field of science, Pharmacognosy has undergone significant change in recent years and today represents a highly interdisciplinary science which is one of five major areas of pharmaceutical education.

Its scope includes 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. Research problems in pharmacognosy include studies in the areas of phytochemistry, microbial chemistry, biosynthesis, biotransformation, chemotaxonomy, and other biological and chemical sciences.

A natural product is a chemical substance produced by living organisms such as plants, mushrooms, animals, and microorganisms. Relevantly, pharmacognosy, as well-known, the science of drugs of natural origins is one of the main disciplines in pharmaceutical sciences. In other words, pharmacognosy is described as systematic science of morphological, chemical, and biological properties along with history, cultivation, collection, extraction, isolation, bioassaying, quality control, and preparation of crude drugs of natural origin. Actually, mineral sources can be also considered within the scope of pharmacognosy. Seydler, the German botanist, was the first one to use the term “pharmacognosy”.

Pharmacognosy has always been a translational or multidisciplinary science, and during the evolution of the scope of this subject area, phytochemistry and phytochemical analysis have become integral parts of Pharmacognosy. Molecular biology has become essential to medicinal plant drug discovery through the determination and implementation of appropriate screening assays directed toward physiologically relevant molecular targets, and modern Pharmacognosy also encapsulates all these relevant new areas into a distinct interdisciplinary science.

Pharmacognosy has played a pivotal role in the discovery and development of new drugs and therapies, and has been continuing to do so even today. It also formed the basis of the development of the subject “Pharmacy.” However, it is rather unfortunate that Pharmacognosy is somewhat neglected nowadays as a major subject area within the modern Pharmacy curricula, especially in the West. For the sake of new hypes of modern medicine, one should not forget the usefulness traditional medicines based on plants. It has never been more important for any modern pharmacist to have proper knowledge about traditional medicines. One of the best examples of the usefulness of not neglecting indigenous herbal remedies is Artemisia annua (common name: qinghaosu), which has long been used in China for the treatment of intermittent fever or malaria.