A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

officinalis,-e (adj.B), gen.pl. officinalium: officinal; “of the shops;” as an epithet, in reference to a specie’s historical or actual use in pharmacology; “sold in shops; applied to plants with real or supposed medicinal properties” (Stearn 1996); used of plants and herbs sold in a chemist or druggist shop, used in the medical preparation of drugs in accordance with a pharmacopoeia; "used in medicine. This epithet more often refers to the past than the present; it is derived from opificina, shortened to officina, originally a workshop or shop, later a monastic storeroom, then a herb-store, pharmacy or drug-shop" (Stearn); cf. edible; see officina,-ae (s.f.I);

NOTE: the genitive plural of officina,-ae (s.f.I): officinarum, ‘of the (work)shops,’ is often used as a species epithet for plants used in manufacturing, often of foods and particularly medicinal products; see officina,-ae (s.f.I).

Alpinia officinarum; Saccharum officinarum, sugar cane, used in the manufacture of sugar.

(pharm.) officialis,-e (adj.B), official, recognized by the pharmacopoeia (Bennitt); see pharmacopoeia,-ae (s.f.I).

(pharm.) officinalis,-e (adj.B), officinal, pertaining to the shop or laboratory (Bennitt).

Guaiacum officinale: “Resina ex trunco vulnerato copiose defluit, indurata legitur ab Incolis (Swartz), a resin copiously flows out from the injured trunk, when indurated, collected by the inhabitants.

- Chomel. Synopsis Historiae stirpium officinalium; a synopsis of the [natural] History of medical plants. [Auguste Francois Chomel (1788 – 1858), French pathologist]. - Historia Plantarum officinalium Peruviae (Torne.), [Natural] History of the medicinal plants of Peru.

- вreyn. Diss. de Fung. Offic. Joannis Philippi Breynii Gedanensis Dissertatio Меdica de Fungis officinalibus, &. Eorum usu in medicina. Lugduni-Batavorum. 1702. 4. Johann Philipp Breyne of Danzig. Medical discourse [i.e. treatise] on Medicinal Fungi and their Use in Medicine. Leiden [Netherlands] 1702. Quarto [i.e. a book printed on quarto pages].

NOTE: Johann Philipp Breyne (1680 – 1764)

NOTE: sanctus,-a,-um (part.A): sacred, holy (adj. epithet modifies the gender of the genus), such an epithet often signifies the plant has some benefit to mankind; see sanctus,-a,-um (part.A);

- Guaiacum officinale and G. sanctum (DeCandolle).

Aloe officinalis; Amaranthus officinalis; Pastinaca officinalis; Sabadilla officinalis.

Asarum officinale; Levisticum officinale; Peucedanum officinale; Skoinolon officinale; Erysimum officinale

(pharm., sec. Bennitt)) Althaea officinalis; Archangelica,-ae (s.f.I), Angelica > Archangelica officinalis; Calendula officinalis; Galanga,-ae (s.f.I), Galangal = the rhizome of Alpinia officinarum]; Guaiacum,-i (s.n.II), abl.sg. guaiaco, Guaiacum > Guaiacum officinale; Pimenta,-ae (s.f.I), Pimento > Pimenta officinalis; Rosmarinus,-i (s.m.II), abl.sg. rosmarino, the rosemary > Rosmarinus officinalis; Salvia,-ae (s.f.I), Sage > Salvia officinalis; Sassafras, (s.n. indeclinable), Sassafras > Sassafras officinale; Taraxacum,-i (s.n.II), abl.sg. taraxaco, Dandelion > Taraxacum officinale; Valeriana,-ae (s.f.I), Valerian > Valeriana officinalis; Zingiber,-eris (s.n.III), Ginger > Zingiber officinale.

- [the genus Usnea] Nominis ratio. Muscus arboreus villosus Officinis vocatur Usnea, nomine assumpto a Serapionis Axneeh & Usnee. Quod nomen spero Botanici non reformidabunt, cum Officinale sit & quasi Latinum, cumque praeter faciem sint notae aliae, quibus hoc genus a Coralloide & Lichenoide distingui potest (Dill.); Explanation of the name [‘Usnea’]. A tree ‘muscus’ [i.e. tree-moss], villous, called by the apothecaries Usnea, the name adopted from the Axneeh & Usnee of Serapion. Which name I hope Botanists will not have been avoiding, although the name may be Officinale [i.e. of the apothecaries’ shops], and as if it were Latin [i.e. a Latin word]], and since there may be other characters besides the appearance, by which this genus can be distinguished from Coraloides & Lichenoides.