The subject pharmacognosy mainly deals with the drugs which are of plant origin. In the subject, basics of botany, viz. Different families of plants with their respective characteristics, different types of leaves, stems, roots, etc. are taught to the learner. The in-depth knowledge of Crude drugs (a mixture of several chemical compounds biosynthesized by plants)Viz. Senna, turmeric, Abraham, etc are taught to the learner regarding their chemical compositions, possible adulterants used and their biological actions. Biosynthetic pathways followed by the plants to synthesize varieties of medicinally important chemical compounds viz. alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, coumarins, glycosides, etc, are taught to the learner. The modification of these biosynthetic pathways by altering the genetic makeup of the plants are being employed by the researchers to change the chemical composition of crude drugs to meet the medicinal need. The chemical identification tests of these medicinally important compounds are taught, which are used as a quality control tool for the crude drugs. The subject gives emphasis on the separation and isolation of constituent compounds present in the crude drugs; several techniques/approaches viz. Solvent extraction, chromatographic techniques (e.g. column chromatography, HPTLC, etc) are taught to the learner. These chromatography techniques, besides separating the different components present in a crude drug also gives their respective quantities, such techniques are used by the pharmaceutical industries as a quality control tool. The primary learning outcomes of the subject include plant identification, knowledge of crude drugs with their chemical compositions, identification chemical tests for different classes of chemical compounds, different biosynthetic pathways followed by plants, different techniques for the separation of chemical constituents present in the crude drug sample.
