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Copyright @ Pol J Cosmetol
Pol J Cosmetol 2017, 20(4): 349-358en  Cosmetic plants of the early 19th centuryJacek Drobnik 1/, Karolina Wełna 2/ 1/ Department of Pharmaceutical Botany and Herbalism in Sosnowiec, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland 2/ Students´ Scientific Society at the Department of Pharmaceutical Botany and Herbalism in Sosnowiec, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland Summary Introduction. The beginning of the 19th century was the formation time for branches originating from pharmacy and requiring the knowledge of plant-derived materials. They were: toxicology, bromatology and cosmetology. The latter one came to be described scientifically thanks to the progress in botany and pharmaceutical chemistry. In cosmetic works of the early 19th century, a number of cosmetic plant species or genera can be identified with a sufficient accuracy. Aim. To identify taxonomically the cosmetic plants or the raw materials they yield from two works released 1805 and 1812. Point interesting plants, unknown in later sources. Compare the set of plants in the studied sources and the content of a formulary by Dachauer from 1864. Material and methods. Query of the sources, identification of plants or their raw materials based on the phytonyms in national languages and on Latin names (binomials or apothecary names). Classification of identified plant species by types of cosmetic preparations formulas in which they were identified. Results. No less than 147 species of cosmetic plants including cosmetological rarities: Atriplex halimus L., Genipa americana L., Eclipta prostrata (L.) L., and Hibiscus rosa sinensis L. High divergence of cosmetic species sets in the 1805 and 1812 works, and between them and the 1864 formulary. Conclusions. A set of cosmetic plants was not yet shaped in the early 19th century. Fragrances of cosmetics of those times were composed of 12 basic aromatics, including orange, bergamot orange, almonds, cloves, lemon, nutmeg, lavender and cinnamon as the most frequent ones. 1805 was a year of first monographs of cosmetic raw materials, written by J.B. Trommsdorff. Key words: cosmetic plants, cosmetic raw materials, taxonomy, 19th century |