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The American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) released its new AHP Quality Botanical Macroscopy ProfileTM on September 8. It contains information on 11 herbs, including nomenclature, macroscopy description, quantitative standards, potential adulteration, and full color images.1 The Profile supplies details regarding each herbs’ botanical identity, as well as known substitutes and closely related species. The information contained in the Profile should help manufacturers in verifying authenticity of raw materials, determining relative quality, comparing botanical grades, and maintaining compliance with good manufacturing practices (GMP).
The first 11 herbs to comprise the new Profile are astragalus (Astragalus mongholicus) root, chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus) fruit, cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) fruit, dang gui (Angelica sinensis) root, Echinaceae purpurea root, feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) aerial parts, goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) root, skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) aerial parts, germander (Teucrium chamaedrys) aerial parts, uva-ursi (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) leaf, and valerian (Valeriana officinalis) root.
“Our goal is to continually generate new, comprehensive resources that meet the unique needs of all those interested in botanical quality, especially herbal product manufacturers, cultivators, processors, suppliers of herbal raw material, researchers and herbal wildcrafters,” said AHP Executive Director Roy Upton in an AHP press release. “The American Herbal Pharmacopoeia is uniquely qualified to provide this essential tool for the herbal trade.”1
The profile information for individual herbs is available, in pdf form, for $35 apiece, or the full profile of all 11 herbs can be purchased for $385. An order form is available online at http://www.herbal-ahp.org/documents/forms/AHP_QBMP_order_form.pdf.
There has been increased interest in providing industry with guidelines for the proper identification of botanical raw materials. In September the American Botanical Council announced the forthcoming publication in October of a laboratory manual for macroscopic identification, The Identification of Medicinal Plants: A Handbook for the Morphology of Botanicals in Commerce, written by botanist Wendy L. Applequist of the Missouri Botanical Garden.2,3 The book is available for $89.95 from ABC by calling 1-800-373-7105 or going to the ABC website, www.herbalgram.org.
-Courtney Cavaliere
Reference
1. AHP introduces new quality botanical macroscopy profile [press release]. Scotts Valley, CA: American Herbal Pharmacopoeia; September 8, 2006.
2. Herb science group publishes crucial quality control manual for accurate identification of herbs and herbal products [press release]. Austin, TX: American Botanical Council; September 28, 2006.
3. Applequist WL. The Identification of Medicinal Plants: A Handbook for the Morphology of Botanicals in Commerce. Austin, TX: American Botanical Council, 2006.
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