The first part of the course, the pharmaceutical botany, lead to the acquisition, by the student, of knowledge of general botany (e.g. structural and functional organization of botanicals), with the aim to recognize the morphology of medicinal plants, to distinguish them from species not used in therapy and to know the phytochemical features and the biosynthetic routes of the secondary metabolites. The study of the systematic characteristics of the medicinal plants and of their secondary metabolites will also provide the basic knowledge for the following course of Pharmacognosy. The main part of the course concerns Pharmacognosy and it is aimed to study medicinal plants, particularly as regards: the pharmacological effects of active principles, possible interactions between single components and finally their therapeutic use. Moreover, all the types of drugs will be also described, along with the procedures that allow their maintenance and the preparation methods suitable for administration. The Pharmacognosy contents are divided into two parts: one is based on general arguments and concerns the principles to follow for the identification of medicinal plants or their derived commercial products, through morphological, chemical, physical and biological analysis. Methods for harvesting, preparation and maintenance of drugs are described; besides, the variability of the active principles content and the influence of endogenous and environmental factors are described. The second part of the course consists in the description of several medicinal plants grouped according their therapeutic efficacy. The morphological elements that characterize the herbal preparations used in therapy, the active principles and the pharmacological activity of each component and of the mixture are described. The learning objectives are to inform students about identification, conservation, pharmacological activity and therapeutic employ of medicinal plants. Moreover, the possible troubles related to the use of single or mixed drug preparations are discussed. The learning of these arguments is addressed to achieve a deep knowledge of medicinal plants, their therapeutic employment and side effects, related to the administration of a single drug or a mixture of herbal preparations