National Center for Natural Products Research
The University of Mississippi

Slider06The Maynard W. Quimby Medicinal Plant Garden

Mission:

The primary mission of the Maynard W. Quimby Medicinal Plant Garden is to maintain a diverse, well-documented and accurately identified medicinally important living plant collection that supports and enhances teaching and research on drug discovery for the faculty and students of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Mississippi. The plant collection should be displayed in a well-designed, visually pleasing manner that promotes knowledge and interest in medicinal plants. The Maynard W. Quimby Medicinal Plant Garden should also promote conservation of these valuable species and a better understanding and appreciation of the relationship between humanity and the rest of the natural world.

Vision:

Maynard W. Quimby Medicinal Plant Garden will be a locally treasured and globally renowned place for medicinally important plants, their research and conservation.

Research and Education:

The garden is instrumental in the support of research efforts within the NCNPR and the School of Pharmacy. Not only in the contributions of plant materials and resources but also in the developing training programs that have been instituted by NCNPR and the FDA, as a result of the continued growth of herbal dietary supplement products in the marketplace. The need to ensure the safety and efficacy of these products is imperative. The Botanicals research team at NCNPR, along with the FDA, have begun to hold training workshops that will provide the necessary knowledge and information for inspectors and quality control personnel to regulate these issues within the manufacturing sector.

The participants visit the Garden to obtain a better understanding of just how easily misidentified and adulterated plant materials can become substituted in the acquisitions process and then make their way through manufacturing and on to the consumer as contaminated or unsafe products. The global concerns about these issues has led to the continued growth of the annual International Conference on the Science of Botanicals (ICSB), hosted by NCNPR, held each year here in Oxford. Leading researchers from institutes all over the world come together to discuss ways to improve these important botanical quality and safety issues.

Follow the links to learn more:

About the Garden
History
Community Education
Titan Arum: “Corpse Flower”