Medical plants have been a rich source of medical agents, as these were the basis of traditional medical care systems and they remain an important part of modern pharmaceutical discovery. Vast increase in the demand of herbal medicines worldwide requires the need of scientific validation, standardization, and quality assurance of their safety, efficacy and reproducibility. Pharmacognostic standardization is the standard study procedure of medicinal plants by use of macroscopic, microscopic, physicochemical and analytical techniques to standardize plant materials and detect adulteration or variation. Phytochemical research supplements this procedure by discovering and describing bioactive substances (alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, glycosides, tannins, and saponins) that cause various pharmacological effects (anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer effect). The increased accuracy of phytochemical profiling and the creation of chemical fingerprints to regulate compliance and guarantee quality control is made possible by the advancements of chromatographic, spectroscopic, and molecular techniques. In addition, the use of pharmacognosy in combination with contemporary biotechnology, metabolomics and sustainable production of plants has created new opportunities to produce high volumes of plants, conserve them and develop new types of drugs. This interdisciplinary strategy allows integrating conventional knowledge with evidence-based medicine and converting raw herbal resources into standard phytopharmaceuticals, which can be used in modern medicine. In this way, pharmacognostic standardization and phytochemical studies are significant to the assurance of reliability, international acknowledgment, and subsequent growth of plants medication in modern clinical practices.



