Pharmacognosy is the study of drugs derived from natural sources namely of plant, animal or mineral origin. Also defined as the study of crude drugs, pharmacognosy according to the American Society of Pharmacognosy is ‘the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of drugs, drug substances or potential drugs of natural origin as well as search for new drugs from natural sources’.

The word pharmacognosy is derived from the Greek words pharmakon (remedy/magic spell/poison) and gnosis (knowledge). The term was first used as ‘pharmacognosis’ by the Austrian physician J.A. Schmidt in his work ‘Lehrbuch der Materia Medica’ in 1811 and by C.A. Seydler—a medical student, as title for his dissertation ‘Analectica Pharmacognostia’ in 1815.

At the beginning of the 20th century, pharmacognosy was used to define the branch of medicine dealing with drugs in their crude or unprepared form. Crude drugs are the dried, unprepared material of plant, animal or mineral origin used for medicine. The study of these materials under the name of pharmacognosie was first developed in German-speaking areas of Europe, while others used the older term materia medica taken from the works of Galen and Dioscorides.