The construction of a two-storey building for the Imperial and Royal Military School in Târgu Mureș, at the foot of the Cornești Plateau, began in 1906. The arrangement of the park and the planting of ornamental trees and shrubs around the building began in 1908. The Dendrological Park formed around the building was entrusted to the Botany Discipline of the Faculty of Pharmacy in 1948. Over the years the diversity of woody plants from the Dendrological Park has been enriched, so now there are about 175 plant taxa, derived from exchanges of biological materials or from collecting species from spontaneous flora.
The Botanical Garden from Târgu Mureș was established together with the Faculty of Pharmacy, in 1948, by the head of the Pharmaceutical Botany discipline, Dr. Jablonkay István. The Botanical Garden Commission was composed of: the chairman of the commission-dean Professor Dr. Haranghy László, the head of the Botany discipline and the general director of the commission-Lecturer Dr. Jablonkay István, the director of the Institute of Biology-Professor Dr. Székely Károly, trainee Ádám Lajos, trainee Kovács Ibolya, gardener-Somodi Árpád, commission representative-Sütő István, student organization representative-trainee Rácz Gábor, botanist Nagy Ödön, honorary member-agronomist engineer Csontos János, the head of the Pharmacognosy discipline-Professor Dr. Kopp Elemér, and the head of Galenica discipline-Lecturer Dr. Hankó Zoltán. Before being invited to organize and coordinate the Pharmaceutical Botany discipline, Associate Professor Dr. Jablonkay István (1913-2000) was a Geography and Natural Sciences teacher at the Roman Catholic Gymnasium from Târgu Mureș. The first works for the Botanical Garden were marking the terrain designated for arrangement and fencing the territory. The land included a small portion of oak forest (the lower part of the Plateau Corneşti forest), a shooting polygon, a tennis court, a bowling alley and an orchard with fruit trees. Thus, in order to put the Botanical Garden into function as soon as possible, the members of the Pharmaceutical Botany discipline, in addition to the scientific contribution, had to make a substantial physical effort. The floristic diversity of the Botanical Garden has been enriched by planting several perennial herbaceous species, trees and shrubs. Seeds from 800 plant species were brought from the Botanical Garden of Cluj. The first scientific collaborator of the Botanical Garden was Lecturer Dr. Cseh Halmágyi Anna (1951-1953). She designed the systematic sector of the garden. In the first decades, the Botanical Garden was coordinated by the discipline of Pharmaceutical Botany. The heads of this discipline were: Associate Professor Dr. Jablonkay István (1948-1952), Professor Dr. Rácz Gábor (1952-1963), Professor Dr. Fűzi József (1964-1997), Associate Professor Dr. Kisgyörgy Zoltán (1997-1998), and Professor Dr. Oroian Silvia (1998-2018). Currently, the discipline is led by Associate Professor Dr. Tanase Corneliu. The administration of the Botanical Garden will be taken over by agronomy specialists: agronomist engineer Székely Gyula (since 1968), agronomist engineer Almășan Lenuța (since 1986) and agronomist engineer Hirițiu Mariana (since 1996 until now).
At the initiative of Professor Dr. Rácz Gábor, in 1959 the first issue of the Seed Catalog was published. During that period, Associate Professor Dr. Kisgyörgy Zoltán was in charge of ensuring the quality and identity of the seeds. Starting with 1964, the seed catalog will have an annex with scientific publications that present the research carried out by the members of Pharmaceutical Botany, Pharmacognosy and other related disciplines.
The initiative to establish the Garden of Medicinal Plants in Târgu Mureş belonged to Professor Dr. Kopp Elemér (1890-1964), who organized and coordinated the discipline of Pharmacognosy from its beginnings, until 1961. Professor Kopp Elemér came to Târgu Mureş with a vast experience in the field, accumulated in the over 20 years (1923-1945) spent at the Experimental Station of Medicinal Plants from Cluj, where he laid the foundations of phytochemical research. In the first 10 years he had the chance to be the collaborator of Professor Páter Béla (1860-1938), the founder of the famous Experimental Station of Medicinal Plants from Cluj. The establishment of the Station aimed the introduction in culture of indigenous medicinal plants from the spontaneous flora, but also of some non-native species and the determination of their active principles. Professor Kopp Elemér was the last director of the experimental station, until its close down in 1945. In a very short time, Professor Kopp Elemér organized the Garden of Medicinal Plants at Tűrgu Mureș and planted about 125 species, most of the plants being brought from the Experimental Station from Cluj and from the Digitalis cooperative from Orăştie, founded by Faragó Endre. The garden has been fenced since the spring of 1949. Professor Kopp Elemér established a school of pharmacognosy in Târgu Mureş with a modern phytochemical orientation, giving priority to the knowledge of active principles of plants. Also he paid attention to the introduction of medicinal plants into cultures and plant breeding. The Garden of Medicinal Plants in the first years was coordinated by the discipline of Pharmacognosy. In 1961 the scientific management of both gardens (Botanical Garden and Medicinal Plants Garden) was entrusted to Professor Rácz Gábor, a position he held until 1991. The heads of the Pharmacognosy discipline were: Professor Dr. Kopp Elemér (1948-1961), Professor Dr. Rácz Gábor (1961-1991), Professor Dr. Csedő Károly (1991-2000), and Associate Professor Dr. Eșianu Sigrid (2000-2018). Currently the discipline is led by Lecturer Dr. Laczkó-Zöld Eszter.