Officinalis
term in biology
Officinalis, officinale, or occasionally officinarum is a Medieval Latin epithet denoting organisms—mainly plants—with uses in medicine, herbalism, manufacturing, and cookery. It commonly occurs as a specific epithet, the second term of a two-part botanical name. Officinalis is used to modify masculine and feminine nouns, while officinale is used for neuter nouns.
Etymology
The word officinalis literally means 'of or belonging to an officīna', the storeroom of a monastery, where medicines and other necessaries were kept. Officīna was a contraction of opificīna, from opifex (gen. opificis) 'worker, maker, doer' (from opus 'work') + -fex, -ficis, 'one who does', from facere 'do, perform'. When Linnaeus invented the binomial system of nomenclature, he gave the specific name officinalis, in the 1735 (1st Edition) of his Systema Naturae, to plants (and sometimes animals or fungi) with an established medicinal, culinary, or other use.
Species
See also
Esculentus, a species name translating to 'edible'.
Hortensis, a species name roughly translating to 'of the garden'.
Oleraceus, an epithet denoting a species that has an extensive history of use as a vegetable and/or culinary plant.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Officinalis” as term in biology. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as term in biology. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7079617. The first chronological checks are 1735.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Officinalis”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Officinalis primary sources, Officinalis archive and Officinalis research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Officinalis”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Officinalis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.