What is pharmacopoeia?

Note the alternative spelling pharmacopoeia.

A pharmacopoeia is a fairly full list of medications, together with information on use, counter indications, side effects and so on. (Obviously, no such list is entirely complete, as it may not contain unconventional medications, for example).

For example, when I was in hospital just over a year ago, I noticed that the hospital stated in its information for patients 'This hospital maintains the full national pharmacopoeia'.

Pharmacopoeia is an official compendium containing list of established drugs, with its nomenclature, molecular and structural formula, category / use, tests for its identity, purity and potency along with assay. Pharmacopoeia gives the limits of standards which these preparations must meet. Some Pharmacopoeia also include average adult dose of a drug.