Posted on: 21 April 2011
To mark 300 years of Botany, Chemistry and Medicine at Trinity College, Dr Henry Oakeley, Garden Fellow at the Royal College of Physicians of London recently opened the new Physic (medicinal) garden on the main campus of Trinity College. The garden features sixty plants of medicinal interest and aims to highlight where some medicines come from.
Although some plants are still used in herbal medicines, modern drug development relies more on finding novel chemicals of medicinal value in plants and then reproducing this chemical through biosynthesis techniques on an industrial scale to produce the relevant drug. In 1711, when the first posts in Botany, Chemistry and Medicine were established in TCD, Botany was taught to medical students to demonstrate the supposed medicinal qualities of certain plants. Botany is no longer taught to medical students however the links to drug discovery and development are still as strong as ever. The new Physic garden showcases medicinal plants of ancient and contemporary medicinal relevance and recognises the linkage between the disciplines of Botany, Chemistry and Medicine. It is situated between the Hamilton and Lloyd Buildings at the East end of the campus.
Dr Henry Oakeley at the new Physic garden in TCD marking 300 years of Botany at the College.
Following the opening of the Physic Garden, Dr Oakley gave a public lecture entitled Why Plants Have Been Used as Medicines for the Past 3,000 Years? In his role as Garden Fellow at the Royal College of Physicians of London, Dr Oakeley looks after a medicinal garden which comprises of a thousand plants used as medicines at some time in the past millennia. He has been involved with plants for nearly 60 years, especially orchids from Latin America, but for the past six years has been concentrating on the history of the medicinal uses of plants. He has also worked as a psychiatrist in south London for 30 years which gave him some insight into the effects of plants used for ‘recreational’ purposes.
A podcast of Dr Oakley’s lecture is available online.
Physic garden plants include: Humulus lupulus, Hypericum perforatum, Salvia officinalis, Thymus vulgaris, Santolina chamaecyparrissus, Valeriana officinalis, Achillea millefolium ‘ rubrum,’Tanacetum parthenium, Primula veris, Sympathytum uplandicum, Echinacea purpurea, Chamaemelum nobile, Foeniculum vulgare Althea officinalis, Eryngium foetidum, Alchemilla vulgaris,Monarda fistulosa, Monarda dydima, Origanum vulgare, Pulsitilla vulgaris, Prunella vulgaris ‘ altenburg rosea ‘, Mandragora officinalis , Arnica Montana, Camelia Japonica alba simplex, Forsythia int. ‘ lynwood ‘, Hamamelis virginiana, Salix alba, Viburnum opulus, Aconitum napellus, Angelica archangelica, Cimicifuga ‘ pink spike ‘, Convallaria majalis, Gentiana lutea, Heleborous niger, Iris versicolor, Liatris spicata, Paeony ‘ Karl Rosenfield ,’Pulmonaria officinalis, Rheum palmatum tanguticum, Rosmarinus officinalis.
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