Officinal

Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis) - the plant's botanical name suggests its pharmaceutical use

Officinal is a term applied in medicine to drugs, plants and herbs, which are sold in a chemist or druggist shop, and to medical preparations of such drugs, et cetera, as are made in accordance with the prescriptions authorized by a pharmacopoeia. Not to be confused with the word "official". The classical Latin officina meant a workshop, manufactory, laboratory, and in medieval Latin was applied to a general storeroom. It thus became applied to a shop where goods were sold rather than a place where things were made.^[1]

In botanical nomenclature, the specific epithet officinalis derives from a plant's historical use in pharmacology.

See also

• Herbalism
• Officinalis

References

1. Chisholm 1911, p. 22.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Officinal". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 22.