The word 'pharmacognosy' had its introduced in the early 19th century to designate the discipline related to medicinal plants. It is derived from the Greek word pharmakon, a drug, and gignosco. "to acquire a knowledge of and as recorded by Dr K. Ganzinger. The terms 'pharmacognosy and pharmacodynamics were probably first coined by Johann Adam Schmidt (1759-1809) in his hand-written manuscript Lehrbuch der Materia Medica, which was posthumously published in Vienna in 1811. Definition :- Pharmacognosy is the study of medicines derived from natural sources. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines it as physical. chemical.biochemical and biological properties of drugs, drug substances or potential drugs or drug substances of natural origin as well as the search for new drugs from natural sources. History:- ANCIENT INDIA In India knowledge of medicinal plants is very old, and medicinal properties of plants are described in Rigveda and in Atharvaveda (3500-1500 B.C.) ...