ICS 4-6 EIP Advanced Tutorial

Remember that research databases, like PubMed (MEDLINE) and Embase, assign subject terms to specific concepts or things to help you focus your searches. We hope you'll find this list useful for current and future botanical searching.

Angiosperms: “[A]ny member of the more than 250,000 species of flowering plants having roots, stems, leaves, …and well-developed conductive tissues….”

• Find Angiosperms in PubMed’s MeSH Database; scroll down to see the long list of MeSH terms assigned to individual plants belonging to this botanical division.

Examples of genera (genus) MeSH terms:

Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic: Use this MeSH term for anti-cancer (i.e. anti-neoplastic) agents obtained from “higher plants that have demonstrable cytostatic or antineoplastic activity.”

Dietary Supplements: "Products in capsule, tablet or liquid form that provide essential nutrients, such as a vitamin, an essential mineral, a protein, an herb, or similar nutritional substance."

Ethnobotany: Use this term for anthropological/traditional medicine aspects: “The plant lore and agricultural customs of a people. In the field of medicine, the emphasis is on traditional medicine and the existence and medicinal uses of plants and their constituents, both historically and in modern times.”

Ethnopharmacology: The study of the actions and properties of medicinal agents, often derived from PLANTS, indigenous to populations or ETHNIC GROUPS

Herb-Drug Interactions: “The effect of herbs, other PLANTS, or PLANT EXTRACTS on the activity, metabolism, or toxicity of drugs.”

Materia Medica: “Materials or substances used in the composition of traditional, or indigenous, medical remedies. The use of this MeSH term was formerly restricted to historical articles or those concerned with indigenous medicine, but it can also refer to homeopathic remedies. Nosodes are specific types of homeopathic remedies prepared from causal agents or disease products.”

Herbal Medicine: “The study of medicines derived from botanical sources.” Searching with this term will retrieve mixed results because it is included in the Disciplines and Occupations Category MeSH tree, which would retrieve articles relating to professional and occupational aspects of the herbalism field.

Pharmacognosy: “The science of drugs prepared from natural-sources including preparations from PLANTS, animals, and other organisms as well as MINERALS and other substances included in MATERIA MEDICA. The therapeutic usage of plants is PHYTOTHERAPY.” Pharmacognosy is a more specific term than the MeSH term Pharmacology: “The study of the origin, nature, properties, and actions of drugs and their effects on living organisms.”

Phytotherapy: “Use of plants or herbs to treat diseases or to alleviate pain.” Phytotherapy, literally “plant therapy,” was added as a new MeSH heading in January 2002. (It was assigned retrospectively to all citations with a MeSH heading from the Angiosperms MeSH tree that also had the subheading therapeutic use.)

Plant Extracts, and the broader term Plant Preparations: Use these terms for pharmacognosy aspects: “Concentrated pharmaceutical preparations of plants obtained by removing active constituents with a suitable solvent, which is evaporated away, and adjusting the residue to a prescribed standard.” The heading Drugs, Chinese Herbal is located in the MeSH tree for Plant Extracts.

Plant Oils: “Oils derived from plants or plant products.” The MeSH tree includes more specific MeSH for various vegetable oils, Clove Oil and Tea Tree Oil.

Plants, Medicinal: “Plants whose roots, leaves, seeds, bark, or other constituent possess therapeutic, tonic, purgative, or other pharmacologic activity when administered to higher animals.” Useful for a general overview of which medicinal plants are being used for particular health conditions.

Note:  Quoted definitions are taken from the National Library of Medicine’s MeSH Browser: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html.