Reference

Glossary

Plain definitions of the terms the Academy courses teach. Press / to search the whole site.

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122 terms, each defined on the page that teaches it

A

Acceptable daily intake (ADI): The FAO-WHO published intake value for a pesticide, in mg per kg body weight per day; USP ⟨561⟩ uses it as A.Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science
Accepted name: The name a checklist such as POWO uses for a species; other names are synonyms.Defined in: Botanical identity
Accepted species: The name a checklist treats as correct; synonyms point to it.Defined in: The untapped botanicals
Access and benefit-sharing: Using genetic resources or traditional knowledge with consent, and sharing the benefits.Defined in: History of botanical medicine · The untapped botanicals
ADI, TDI, RfD: An intake without appreciable risk over a lifetime.Defined in: Toxicology and dose
Alkaloid: A basic, nitrogen-containing plant compound, such as morphine or quinine.Defined in: History of botanical medicine
Ampholyte: A molecule with both an acidic and a basic group.Defined in: Solubility, pH and the body
Anthesis: The period when a flower is open and functional.Defined in: Soil and cultivation
Applicability domain: The inputs for which a model has been shown to hold.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design
Author citation: The botanist who published the name, e.g. "L." for Linnaeus.Defined in: Botanical identity

B

Binder: A material that holds particles together in a granule or tablet.Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients
Bioaccessibility: The fraction released for absorption, often measured in vitro.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design
Bioconcentration factor (BCF): Element concentration in a plant part divided by that in soil.Defined in: Soil and cultivation
Biofilm: Surface-attached cells inside a self-made polymer matrix (EPS).Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals
BMD and BMDL: The dose giving a chosen benchmark response on a fitted curve, and its lower bound.Defined in: Toxicology and dose
Botanical drug: A drug from plants, algae or macroscopic fungi, usually a mixture.Defined in: The untapped botanicals · Why no disease claims
Botanical reference material: Authenticated plant material run beside the sample.Defined in: Botanical identity

C

Capitalized cost: Spending carried forward to approval at a cost of capital.Defined in: The untapped botanicals
Carrier: A technological excipient, such as maltodextrin, added to an extract, often to make drying possible.Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients
Casparian strip: A sealed band in root endodermis walls that forces ions through membranes.Defined in: Soil and cultivation
Cation exchange capacity: How many positive ions, such as Cd²⁺, soil surfaces can hold.Defined in: Soil and cultivation
Certificate of analysis (COA): A lot-specific report of tests, methods, limits and results, issued and approved by the testing party.Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science
cfu: Colony-forming unit: a cell or clump that grows into one colony.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals
Chemotype: A chemically distinct form within one species.Defined in: Genomes and species · Soil and cultivation
CITES Appendix II: Species traded internationally only with an export permit or re-export certificate.Defined in: Soil and cultivation
Class 1, 2, 3 solvents: ICH Q3C groups: avoid, limit by PDE, or accept up to 50 mg/day.Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science
ε-constraint: Optimize one objective while bounding the others.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design
Control threshold: 30% of the PDE; below it, Q3D expects no further elemental controls if variability is acceptable.Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science
Coverage: Average number of reads covering each base.Defined in: Genomes and species
Cramer class: One of three structural classes that set the TTC.Defined in: Toxicology and dose
Critical quality attribute: A property kept within a limit to ensure quality (ICH Q8(R2)).Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design
CSAF: A data-derived replacement for one default subfactor.Defined in: Toxicology and dose
C-value (1C): DNA content of an unreplicated haploid chromosome complement.Defined in: Genomes and species

D

Decision rule: The stated rule for how uncertainty is used when declaring a result conforming or not (ISO/IEC 17025:2017).Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science
DER genuine: The ratio of herbal substance to the genuine extract obtained, excluding excipients (EMA definition).Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients
Desirability: A response rescaled to 0–1 between limit and target.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design
Dietary ingredient: A vitamin, mineral, botanical, amino acid, dietary substance, or their extracts and combinations (§ 201(ff)(1)).Defined in: The untapped botanicals
Disease claim: A statement meeting a 101.93(g)(2) criterion; on a supplement it makes a drug.Defined in: Why no disease claims
Disintegrant: A material that breaks a tablet apart once it is wet.Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients
DNA barcode: A short standard DNA region compared with a reference library.Defined in: Botanical identity
Dose number: Dose divided by what 250 mL can dissolve.Defined in: Solubility, pH and the body
Dose–response: How an effect's size or frequency changes with dose.Defined in: Toxicology and dose
Drug-first exclusion: § 201(ff)(3)(B): an article first approved or investigated as a drug is not a supplement.Defined in: The untapped botanicals
Druse: A spherical cluster of calcium oxalate crystals.Defined in: Botanical identity
D-value: Minutes at one temperature for a tenfold reduction.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals

E

Endospore: Dormant, heat-resistant form of Bacillus and Clostridium.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals
Ethnobotany: The study of how people use plants, from interviews, observation and texts.Defined in: History of botanical medicine
Excipient: Any constituent of a dosage unit other than the active or dietary ingredient, added for manufacture, stability or use.Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients
Expanded uncertainty (U): The half-width of an interval expected to hold about 95% of plausible values (k = 2).Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science
Expected improvement: The average gain an untested option should give over the top result so far.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design

F

Filler (diluent): Bulk that brings a small dose to a mass a machine can fill or compress.Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients
First-pass metabolism: Loss in the gut wall and liver before systemic circulation.Defined in: Solubility, pH and the body
F-value: Lethality of a heat profile, in minutes at a reference temperature.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals

G

Gate: A pass-or-fail requirement that removes candidates.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design
Gene cluster: Pathway genes lying together on a chromosome.Defined in: Genomes and species
Glidant (flow agent): Fine particles that reduce cohesion so a powder flows; in food law, an anticaking or free-flow agent.Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients
GRAS: Generally recognized as safe by qualified experts for a stated use; exempt from the food-additive definition.Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients
Guard band (w): The distance between the tolerance limit and the acceptance limit, often a multiple of U.Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science

H

Health claim: A claim linking a substance to a disease, allowed only as FDA authorizes.Defined in: Why no disease claims
Hippocratic Corpus: About 60 Greek medical texts by several authors, mostly 5th–4th century BCE.Defined in: History of botanical medicine

I

IND: Investigational new drug application, needed to study a product as a drug.Defined in: The untapped botanicals
Inert ingredient (EPA): Any intentionally added substance in a pesticide product other than an active ingredient (40 CFR 152.3).Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients
Intended use: What a product is for, shown by labeling, advertising and websites; it sets the category.Defined in: Why no disease claims
Internal standard: Nuclei of known 2C stained together with the sample.Defined in: Genomes and species
Intrinsic solubility, S 0: Solubility of the neutral form alone.Defined in: Solubility, pH and the body
Inverted repeat: The duplicated region of the chloroplast genome holding the rRNA genes.Defined in: Genomes and species
Isolation: Obtaining one compound in pure form from an extract.Defined in: History of botanical medicine

K

Kampo: Japanese medicine adapted from Chinese sources; 148 formulas are reimbursed.Defined in: History of botanical medicine

L

Labeling: Labels and other written, printed or graphic matter on or accompanying a product (§ 201(m)).Defined in: Why no disease claims
LD50: The single dose estimated to kill half the animals in a group.Defined in: Toxicology and dose
Level of evidence: NTP's rating of the strength, not the potency, of a bioassay result.Defined in: Toxicology and dose
log D: The same ratio counting every species, at a stated pH.Defined in: Solubility, pH and the body
log P: Octanol–water partition of the neutral form, as log₁₀.Defined in: Solubility, pH and the body
Lubricant: A material that lowers friction between powder and tooling, such as magnesium stearate.Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients

M

Margin of exposure: Reference point divided by exposure: a level of concern, not a risk estimate.Defined in: Toxicology and dose
Materia medica: A text listing medicinal substances, their sources and uses; bencao in Chinese.Defined in: History of botanical medicine
Metabarcoding: Sequencing many barcode copies at once to list the species in a mixture.Defined in: Botanical identity
Method suitability: Proof that the test recovers spiked organisms from the product.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals
Modifying factors F1–F5: Divisors applied to a NOAEL for species, human variability, study length, severity and the lack of a NOEL.Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science
Monoploid genome size (1Cx): DNA content of one chromosome set.Defined in: Genomes and species
Multi-fidelity model: Links cheap, rough data with scarce, accurate data.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design

N

Nagoya Protocol: The 2010 benefit-sharing agreement under the Convention on Biological Diversity.Defined in: History of botanical medicine
Native DER: Mass of plant material used per mass of extract obtained.Defined in: Soil and cultivation
NDIN: Premarket notification of a new dietary ingredient, filed at least 75 days ahead.Defined in: The untapped botanicals
New dietary ingredient: One not marketed in the United States before October 15, 1994.Defined in: The untapped botanicals
N, NB and ND: Newman and Cragg's codes for natural product, botanical mixture and derivative.Defined in: History of botanical medicine
NOAEL and LOAEL: Highest tested dose without, and lowest tested dose with, a significant adverse effect.Defined in: Toxicology and dose
Nonlinear pharmacokinetics: Exposure that does not scale in proportion to dose.Defined in: Solubility, pH and the body

O

Objective: A property to raise or lower, traded against others.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design
Option 1, 2a, 2b, 3 (Q3D): Ways to turn a PDE into concentration limits: a common limit at 10 g/day, at the real intake, per component, or on the finished product.Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science
Other dietary ingredients: Dietary ingredients without Daily Values, declared inside the panel (101.36(b)(3)); not the same as “Other ingredients”.Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients
Other ingredients: The heading of a supplement's ingredient statement when sources are named in the Supplement Facts panel (21 CFR 101.4(g)).Defined in: Other ingredients and excipients

P

Pareto-optimal: No option is as good in every objective and better in one.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design
Partition coefficient (K d ): Metal held on soil solids divided by metal dissolved in soil water.Defined in: Soil and cultivation
p-distance: Share of aligned sites that differ between two sequences.Defined in: Genomes and species
Permitted daily exposure (PDE): The maximum acceptable daily intake of an impurity from a product, in µg/day for elements (Q3D) or mg/day for solvents (Q3C).Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science · Soil and cultivation
P-glycoprotein: An efflux pump that returns some molecules to the gut lumen.Defined in: Solubility, pH and the body
pKa: The pH at which half the molecules of a group are ionized.Defined in: Solubility, pH and the body
Plant part: The organ used (root, leaf, flower); required on U.S. supplement labels.Defined in: Botanical identity
Ploidy: The number of chromosome sets in a somatic nucleus.Defined in: Genomes and species

Q

Qualified health claim: A health claim below significant scientific agreement, used with FDA's qualifying words.Defined in: Why no disease claims

R

R F: Zone travel divided by solvent-front travel, both from the application line.Defined in: Botanical identity

S

Semi-synthetic derivative: A natural product changed chemically, as etoposide from podophyllotoxin.Defined in: History of botanical medicine
Specified microorganism: A named organism that must be absent in a stated mass.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals
SST: System suitability test: a reference mixture that shows the plate ran correctly.Defined in: Botanical identity
Structure/function statement: A § 403(r)(6) statement about the body's structure or function, naming no disease.Defined in: Why no disease claims
Sublethal injury: Damage a cell survives but must repair before growing on selective media.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals
Substantial evidence: Adequate and well-controlled investigations of a drug's effect (§ 505(d)).Defined in: Why no disease claims
Summation option: USP ⟨2232⟩ route that adds each component's contribution per serving and multiplies by servings per day.Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science
Supersaturation: Dissolved concentration above equilibrium solubility; it tends to precipitate.Defined in: Solubility, pH and the body
Supported point: A Pareto point on the convex hull; weighted sums find only these.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design
Surrogate model: A fast model predicting a costly measurement, with uncertainty.Defined in: Multi-objective ingredient design

T

TAMC and TYMC: Total aerobic count; total yeast and mold count.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals
T&CM: Traditional and complementary medicine, WHO's term.Defined in: History of botanical medicine
Tolerance: The EPA's maximum residue level for a pesticide in or on a food commodity, set in 40 CFR Part 180.Defined in: Certificate-of-analysis science
Total vs available metal: All of a soil's metal, versus the share an extraction test removes.Defined in: Soil and cultivation
TTC: A structure-based exposure value below which harm is improbable.Defined in: Toxicology and dose

U

Uncertainty factor: A divisor for species differences and human variability; 100 by default.Defined in: Toxicology and dose

V

VBNC: Viable but nonculturable: alive, yet forming no colonies on routine media.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals

W

Warning letter: FDA's usual notice of what it believes are significant violations.Defined in: Why no disease claims
Water activity (aw): Vapor pressure of a material over that of pure water.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals

Z

z-value: Temperature rise that cuts the D-value tenfold.Defined in: Microbiology of botanicals