A multidisciplinary approach to pharmacognosy: case studies of indigenous South African medicinal plants

South Africa is one of the most botanically rich countries in the world, harbouring more than 20,000 plant species. A significant portion of these plant species, approximately 4,000 are used as traditional medicine by various cultural groups in South Africa. Research interest in these botanical resources has increased, aiming to promote sustainable cultivation practices and to ensure a consistent supply of high-quality botanicals to produce herbal medicinal products. The slow integration of African Traditional Medicines into the global pharmaceutical mainstream is hindered by lack of sufficient data regarding the quality, safety and efficacy of these herbal products. Over the years, our research has focused on modernising pharmacognosy through the application of novel and complementary analytical techniques for the chemical profiling and quality control of medicinal plants. Through the application of various chromatographic techniques, mass spectrometry, vibrational and imaging spectroscopy, and chemometric data analysis, various challenges related to species identification, delineation, classification, and quality control have been addressed. To support the evidence-based use of traditional medicines, various in vitro and in vivo models have been employed to generate complementary biological activity data, that validate the traditional use of these plants. In this presentation, a few examples are used to showcase the workflow and subsequent outcomes of using complementary analytical techniques in the phytochemical profiling, and chemotaxonomic differentiation of medicinally important plant species. The application of modern technologies in assessing pharmacological effects, and the subsequent identification of bioactive compounds is also demonstrated. Publication History Article published online: 05 March 2026 © 2026. Thieme. All rights reserved. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Oswald-Hesse-Straße 50, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany