List of Medicinal Herbs

Since prehistoric times, in all ages, in all civilizations and in all quadrants of the globe, plants have been proven to have or have been thought to have medicinal properties.There are more than one thousand four hundred plants including trees, shrubs, and groundcovers in the plant kingdom that are considered to be medicinal plants. In the Linneal binomial system of plant taxonomy, more than sixty plants have been given the species name officinalis, officinale or officinarum. The group has a great deal of diversity and it includes a rose, a peony, several culinary herbs, and several vegetables.

Etymology of Officinalis
Officina, a noun, is a Medievel Latin word derived from the noun opificina that was later shortened to officina. It referred originally to a workshop, later to a monastic storeroom, then to an herb store and finally to a pharmacy. The adjective, officinalis, in all of its declined forms is used in botanical Latin to mean used in medicine in the sense of used in the practice of medicine.

Officinalis, officinale, officinarum, all adjectives, are the same word with different endings and they all mean used in medicine. The word ending changes because in Latin the adjective modifying the noun must agree with the noun in gender, case and number. All three forms, officinalis, officinale, and officinarum are in the genitive case. If the noun is singular and the gender is either masculine or feminine, the modifying adjective is officinalis. If the noun is neuter, the modifying adjective is officinale. If the noun is feminine and plural and belongs to the first declension, the modifying adjective is officinarum.

Medicinalis is an adjective. In botanical Latin, it means currently used in medicine in the sense of used in the practice of medicine.

List of Plants
The following is a list of these medicinal plants. The linked names can be found in the medicinal herb garden, Hortus Medicus.