Medicinal Plant Garden
School of Pharmacy
Kitasato University

　　Medicinal plant garden is located in the campus area of Kitasato University, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture. The objective of the garden is to provide information on medicinal plants and their usage to students of the University, other concerned persons, and people in the neighborhood.
　　The garden was originally established as a cultivation field for medicinal rhubarb and Amur cork trees in Nihonmatsu-shi, Fukushima Prefecture, in 1965. Afterwards, it was moved to Sagamihara in 1972, and a variety of medicinal plants were gathered from around the world for educational and research purposes. The garden consists of some characteristic areas such as herbaceous plant area with medicinal properties, woody plant area for medicinal use, poisonous plant area, dome-shaped conservatory, and so on. In addition to those areas, which are opened to the public, the research field was found to be an exclusive area in 2010. Medicinal chrysanthemum, dwarf lilyturf, Japanese atractylodes, and other medicinal plants are cultured and used as experimental materials in the area to develop suitable cultivation methods for domestically grown crude drugs.

　　Medicinal plants can significantly affect human health. Phytochemical compounds, which cause few adverse reactions, are the basis of natural medicines. The demand for medicinal plants is increasing. It is necessary to learn about medicinal plants for students studying pharmaceutical sciences because, in the history of humans, many kinds of medicines are derived from plants, and even today, plants are still very important sources of new medicines. Living plants, herbarium specimens, and crude drug samples are educational materials for students. This garden serves as a living plant museum. Many important and interesting plants are exhibited in the garden, providing information on their medicinal properties to meet queries of students. The public can also take advantage of this garden to obtain information and knowledge on plants with special medicinal properties.
　　In addition, the garden is a source of genetic resources for some important medicinal plants. Research on the propagation and conservation of genetic resources and the evaluation of the phytochemical constituents of medicinal plants are significant activities of the garden. We have been carrying out research on medicinal resources in cooperation with the Department of Pharmacognosy of Kitasato University, Research Center for Medicinal Plant Resources of the National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, and some universities in Japan.

　　Introduction, identification, and cultivation of medicinal plants are essential factors for conducting research on the pharmaceutical properties of plants. Therefore management of the garden of living plants and the herbarium of crude drugs play crucial roles in the research of medicinal plants. With this view, a museum of medicinal plants is managed. Living materials and crude drugs, not only from Japan but also from other parts of the world, are maintained. Samples are labeled with scientific names along with information on medicinal uses so that they are available to students and other interested researchers to identify medicinal plants and crude drugs. There are approximately 900 species of living plants and 18,000 specimens (including crude drugs).

　　To spread knowledge about medicinal plants from the aspect of health, lectures and symposiums to the public have been held annually as a cooperative work with Sagamihara city.