TABLE 3.
Recommendations (checklist of items) for reporting of the starting plant material a and its initial processing and which should be used in conjunction with (Heinrich et al., 2020).
| Section topic | Item number b | Recommendation for reporting of plant material and its initial processing |
|---|---|---|
| Title and abstract | 1 | (a) A clear and concise title including the plant material used, the experimental approach, and therapeutic focus, using a commonly understood terminology |
| (b) Provide in the abstract an informative and balanced summary of what was done and what was found including implications and limitations | ||
| Description of the botanical drug and taxonomic authentication | 2 | Botanical or morphologic authentication of the plant material (desirable is a combination with DNA barcoding, e.g., PCR, RFLP, genome sequencing) and the information must be included in a separate section of Material and Methods, if applicable combined with the information required under item 3 |
| (a) Fully authenticated plant species name(s) based on Medicinal Plant Name Service: https://mpns.science.kew.org/mpns-portal/or the Plants of the World Online: https://powo.science.kew.org/World Flora Online: http://www.worldfloraonline.org/or another accepted taxonomic database c | ||
| (b) Species name(s) as provided in a pharmacopoeia may not be taxonomically current or correct and must be checked against the above sources | ||
| (c) Locality, date and season of harvesting and collection (including geographical coordinates, if available) should be provided | ||
| (d) Details of voucher specimen being deposited, ideally in an institutional herbarium (including herbarium code from The William & Lynda Steere Herbarium: https://www.nybg.org/plant-research-and-conservation/explore/and accession number should be provided | ||
| (e) Information on how the material was authenticated and by whom | ||
| (f) Specific observations about the samples collected, e.g., particular environmental or biological conditions, if applicable | ||
| Description of the extract and extraction process | 3 | The following information must be included in a separate section of Material and Methods, if applicable combined with the information required under item 2 |
| (a) The full species name(s), including authorities and family, needs to be included as well as the international drug name, if one has been assigned in a pharmacopoeia. However, a drug name is no substitute for the binomial (species name) | ||
| (b) Plant parts used (aerial parts, roots, bark, etc.), fresh, dried, fermentedetc. | ||
| (c) Drug-solvent ratio (DSR) d and resulting drug-extract ratio DER) e | ||
| (d) If applicable, pre-extraction and fermentation procedures and storage conditions for the extracts and preparation used | ||
| (e) Extraction solvent (mixture) | ||
| (f) Type of extract by consistency (dry, liquid/fluid, soft, etc.) | ||
| (g) Mode of extraction (percolation, maceration, etc.) | ||
| (h) Extraction pressure, temperature, and duration | ||
| (i) Drying mode (spray drying, freeze drying, etc.) | ||
| If applicable | ||
| (j) Traditional processing of the material used medicinally (fumigation, steaming, roasting, cooking, frying, etc.) | ||
| (k) Other processing steps (liquid-liquid, provoked precipitation, etc.), purification process (resin adsorption, fractionation, etc.) | ||
| (l) Exact ratios of the individual botanical (and other) drugs and their processing (in case of multicomponent extracts) | ||
| (m) Details of standardisation or quantification of marker compounds | ||
| (n) The content, including the concentration of active ingredients or marker compounds identified in the individual pharmacopoeial monographs | ||
| (o) The name and concentration of any added antimicrobial compounds or preservatives | ||
| (p) The list and % of any added excipients | ||
| Documentation of the legal basis for collection and processing | 4 | (a) Full compliance with the Nagoya protocol, CITES, and all associated treaties |
| (b) Full compliance with phytosanitary regulations | ||
| (c) Collaboration and co-authorship of the institution where the plant comes from is encouraged | ||
| In case of a finished (commercial) product: description of product characteristics | 5 | (a) Details about the proprietary product name, i.e., brand name |
| (b) The manufacturers’ name and supplier of the product | ||
| (c) Pharmaceutical forms (tablets, capsules, etc.), dose, frequency and duration of treatment | ||
| (d) The amount of extract per dosage unit, if applicable | ||
| (e) List of ingredients (including the description of extract ratios and solvents) | ||
| (f) List and % of excipients used | ||
| (g) Information on the products’ regulatory status, i.e., is it licensed/registered/listed in the country in which the study was conducted | ||
| (h) Batch number and date of production/best by information | ||
| (i) Details of storage conditions |
This article is focused on terrestrial plants and the extracts derived from them. Marine organisms and pure natural products isolated, as well as animal-derived preparations are not covered. Many of these guidelines are in principle also applicable to mushrooms (fruiting body of a fungus) especially those which are used in food or medicine or are known to be toxic, but they are not covered explicitly.
As is common with other consensus statements, each item of the checklist is numbered for ease of use. The numbering will enable the authors, reviewers and editors to quickly evaluate and find the relevant information/core items in the submitted manuscript.
For species name(s) of fungi see Index Fungorum: http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp and Species Fungorum: http://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp or MycoBank: https://www.mycobank.org/.
Represents the amount of plant material used to a measured amount of extract, and is calculated by dividing the amount of herbal material by the amount of solvent used.
Represents the amount of extract obtained from the amount of herbal drug, and it varies considerably depending on the amount of herbal drug, solvent used, extraction process, and other variables.