Welcome to the Medicinal Garden of the University of St. Thomas Biology Department! This is a space created to allow for reflection and contemplation as well as to educate people about the importance of plants as a source of medicine for humans.
The following booklet was created by a collaboration of St. Thomas students taking the course BIOL315 Plants Food and Medicine and artist Sarah Nelson in order to help people navigate the garden. The booklet can be accessed using the link below:
The garden has been divided into four beds with different themes.The themes are:
- Native American Medicinal Plants: This bed includes a variety of plants native to North America that were used medicinally by various native peoples.
- Modern Pharmaceuticals: This bed includes plants from whom drugs used in modern pharmaceuticals were derived.
- Herbal Remedies: This bed includes plants that are commonly used in herbal remedies.
- Officinalis plants: This bed includes plants that were designated, in their Latin name, the word offinalis (or offinale) as a specific epithet. For example the plant rosemary has the Latin name Rosmarinus officinalis. This designation was assigned to animals and plants used in medicine and herbalism. This designation was assigned by Linnaeus, who invented the binomial system of nomenclature, which was published in his Systema Natura in 1735.
You can find more information about specific plants by clicking on the links above with specific plant names. These pages were created by UST students taking the course Plants Food and Medicine.
UST Medicinal Garden 