Botanical Authentication: Principles and Necessity

Botanical authentication is the formal process of confirming that a plant sample genuinely corresponds to the species claimed, and constitutes the single most important quality-control step in the entire herbal drug research pathway, since every subsequent phytochemical, pharmacological, and regulatory finding is meaningless if the starting material has been misidentified or adulterated. Authentication is approached through four complementary and progressively more rigorous methodological layers, each offering distinct evidentiary strength.