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Copyright @ Pol J Cosmetol
Pol J Cosmetol 2016, 19(2): 176-181en  Identification of plants in an early cosmetic formulary from 1864Jacek Drobnik 1/, Karolina Wełna 2/ 1/ Department of Pharmaceutical Botany and Herbalism, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice 2/ Students´ Scientific Society at the Department of Pharmaceutical Botany and Herbalism, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice Summary Introduction. The first modern source on cosmetic plants and raw materials is the formulary by G. Dachauer printed in 1864 in Munich. It identifies the species of plants and it describes pharmacognostically the cosmetic vegetative materia medica. It also gathers formulas and recipes for a number of cosmetics. Aim. Identify taxonomically the cosmetic plants or the raw materials they yield, and check which of them are still designated for cosmetic use. Material and methods. Original German and Latin plant names and raw materials names together with corresponding pharmacognostical and cosmetic descriptions were interpreted in the light of modern taxonomy (accepted binomial names), botany (plant parts or the nature of other vegetative raw materials) and pharmacognosy. Results. Dachauer in 1864 listed 69 cosmetic vegetative raw materials representing 61 plant species (including one uncertain of the genus Jasminum L.). As many as 61 those historical raw materials (88,41%) is currently included in CosIng catalogue. The species: Altingia excelsa, Convolvulus scoparius, Heliotropium arborescens, Lonicera periclymenum, Myroxylon peruiferum, Plectranthus aegyptiacus, Styrax officinalis and Vanilla mexicana are forgotten today as cosmetic plants. Conclusions. The formulary shares most of its content with the modern cosmetic materials assortment. The knowledge on such a wide variety of cosmetic materials (from 61 plant species) is over 150 years old. Key words: cosmetic plants, cosmetic raw materials, taxonomy, 19th century |