officinarum

Officinarum is a Latin epithet that appears in botanical nomenclature to indicate a historic or traditional association with apothecaries, pharmacy, or medicinal use. The root officina refers to a workshop or shop, especially the apothecary’s storehouse, and the epithet conveys that the plant or its preparations were used in medicine or listed in pharmacopoeias. In modern taxonomic practice the form officinalis is more common, but officinarum persists in certain historical or regional names.

The use of officinarum reflects a long-standing tradition in which plants were classified or named according to their reputed medicinal value rather than purely by morphology. Because botanical names can reflect historical classification, the epithet officinarum may appear in older literature or in regions where traditional pharmacopoeia influence remained strong. The presence of this epithet emphasizes ethnobotanical and pharmacognostic context as much as botanical characteristics.

In contemporary databases and taxonomy, officinarum is often encountered alongside or replaced by more standardized forms such as officinalis, depending on the genus and the rules of nomenclature. When present, the epithet typically signals a link to medicinal use, historic pharmaceutical applications, or inclusion in official drug lists. For researchers and students, officinarum highlights the intersection of botany and the history of medicine in plant naming.