Description
This course is designed to provide an appreciation for the contribution of plants to traditional (alternative) and modern medicines worldwide. In order to achieve this, we will examine: historical and cultural aspects of plants and medicine, therapeutic uses of plants, drugs from plants, beneficial effects of some food plants, contribution of medicinal plants to alternative and modern medicines and some medicinal plants of Sargodha Region.
Course contents
History of medicinal plants, traditional medicinal systems: Ayurvedha, Siddha, Unani and Naturopathy
Cultivation, therapeutical and pharmaceutical uses of selected medicinal plants of Sargodha Region.
Historical account of medicinal plants in Pakistan. Establishment of medicinal plants gardens.
Definition of Drug. Classification of natural drugs, Alphabetical, morphological, pharmacological and chemical, traditional and folklore medicine, native medicine
Drugs from leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds, roots bark (cinchona) and wood (Ephedra)
Pharmacognosy: definition and scope. Drug adulteration, Drug evaluation, chemical evaluation and biological evaluation of drugs, phytochemical investigations, Quality control of herbal drugs.
Course Aim
This course aims to develop understanding about importance of medicinal flora at national and global level.
Student learning outcomes/ learning objectives
By the end of this course students should be able to
Identify the medicinal plants that are suitable for various ailments
Familiarize with concept of herbal medication at aboriginal level
Know the various mode of utilization of different drugs from plants
Familiarize with future of medicinal plants
Assessment methodology
This is a three-credit lecture course
Mid-term exams 30 marks
Final term exams 45 marks
Practical exam 15 marks
Sessional (Attendance, assignment & presentation) 10 Marks
Readings
Huang, K. The Pharmacognosy of chines herbs. CRC Press. Boca Raton.
Von Reis, S. and Lipp, F. J. Jr. 1982. New plant sources for Drugs and foods from the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium. Harvard University Press. Cambridge.
Gibbs, R. D. 1974. Chemotaxonomy of flowering plants. Vols I-IV. Me Gills- Queens. University Press, Montreal.
Johnson, I. 1884. A Manual of the Medical Botany of North America. William Wood & Co. New York.
Ghazanfar, S. A. 1994. Handbook of Arabian Medicinal Plants. CRC Press, Boca Raton.
Hocking, G. M. 1955. A Dictionary of Terms in Pharmacognosy. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield
Foster, S. and Duke, J.A. 1990. A field guide to medicinal plants.Houghton Mifflin.
Amruth, The medicinal plants magazine (All volumes). Medplant Conservatory Society, Bangalore, India.
