A global nomenclatural indexing and reference service for medicinal plants aimed at those involved in global health, regulation and research.
Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS) provides a global nomenclatural indexing and reference resource enabling health professionals and researchers to access information about plants and plant products relevant to pharmacological research, health regulation, and traditional medicine.
Medicinal plants are used globally and are known by different names in different communities, health traditions, generations and languages. The same name may be applied to several different species.
To find all information published about a particular plant it is necessary to underpin its identity with an unambiguous scientific name in order to find all the names that may have been used for the plant, and any possible confusion caused by ambiguous terms.
Organisations and individuals working in the health and research sectors, as well as those in the herbal or pharmaceutical industries, need to access information about plants and to communicate with one another accurately and effectively.