PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY 
CHAPTER I 
THE SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE OF BOTANY 
Botany is the science which treats of plants. Plants are liv- 
ing things or organisms belonging to one of the two great king- 
doms of living things, called the VEGETABLE or PLANT Kincpom. 
The other kingdom of living creatures is that made up of animals 
and called the AnmmAL Kincpom. ‘The science which treats of 
animals is called ZodLocy. Botany and Zodlogy collectively 
constitute the branch of natural science called BroLocy, the 
science which seeks to inquire into all living things. 
The term botany is derived from the Greek word Boravyn 
meaning pasture, grass, or fodder. Man’s first inquiry into 
plants was undoubtedly prompted by his instinct to seek food 
and doubtless began with his first appearance on the earth. 
History records the first pursuit of botany as a science by the 
ancient Chaldeans, Egyptians and Greeks who cultivated it 
particularly in relation to sources of food supply. 
Later man found that some plants possessed medicinal 
properties and interest was next focused in the direction of plants 
as sources of medicines. The earliest pioneers in pharmaceutical 
botany were the medicine men of primitive peoples including the 
Indians of America who were acquainted with the virtues of 
many medicinal plants before the coming of the white settlers. 
~ They were followed in Europe by the rhzzotomoz or root collectors 
who gathered medicinal herbs and prepared them for the 
pharmacopolai or drug venders. Probably the greatest of the 
early European pioneers in this field was Theophrastus, a Greek 
_ philosopher and pupil of Aristotle, who lived between 372 and 
- 285 B.C. He wrote ten books on the History of Plants in which 
C. - about 500 species of plants used in the treatment of various 
I 
