Medicinal Plants and Their Recognition

The aim of this course is the identification and the classification of medicinal plants through the acquiring of tools and their application.
Furthermore, the course provides precious knowledge for the identification and the description of selected medicinal species, belonging to several botanic families, with a focus on the diagnostic features, and of a selection of herbal drugs or parts of medicinal plants.
Several practical lessons are planned throughout the entire course, aimed at the identification of the selected species by means of herbarium specimens, traditional dichotomous keys, and digital tools.
Visits at the Città Studi Botanic Garden (Milan) and G.E. Ghirardi Botanic Garden (Toscolano Maderno, BS) and outdoor lessons, dedicated to the live observations, botanic drawings, and sketching techniques, allow the students to complete the study of this subject.

Both frontal and practical lessons, help the students obtain knowledge and insights on the abovementioned topics, thus they will be able to:
- describe the basics, the tools and their use for the identification and the classification of medicinal plants;
- describe medicinal plants through freehand drawing;
- identify species, genus, and family of selected medicinal plants;
- describe diagnostic features of species and their belonging families through the realization of ad hoc sheets;
- realize herbarium specimens and describe their importance and usefulness;
- use traditional dichotomous keys and online tools;
- identify and describe selected herbal drugs and different parts of medicinal plants.
All the abilities gained during the course will be evaluated observing the results of the practical exercises at the Botanic Gardens, as well as in classroom. These practical exercises are aimed at achieving solutions to questions concerning the tools and topics mentioned in the Educational Goals paragraph.