This research explores the automated leaf-based identification of medicinal plants, utilizing machine learning and deep learning techniques to address the crucial need for efficient plant classification. Driven by the vast potential of medicinal plants in pharmaceutical development and healthcare, the study aims to surpass the limitations of existing methodologies through thorough experimentation and comparative analysis. The primary goal is to develop a robust and automated solution for classifying medicinal plants based on leaf morphology. The methodology encompasses acquiring diverse datasets. Specifically, Set 1 data is processed by applying resizing, rescaling, saturation adjustment, and noise removal, while Set 2 data is processed by applying resizing, rescaling, saturation adjustment, noise removal, and PCA (Principal Component Analysis). The proposed algorithms include Support Vector Machines (SVM), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), YOLOv8, Vision Transformer (ViT), ResNet, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The study evaluates the efficacy and effectiveness of each algorithm in plant classification using metrics such as accuracy, recall, precision, and F1 score. Notably, the ResNet model achieved 93.8% and 94.8% accuracy in Set 1 and Set 2, respectively. The SVM model demonstrated 56.5% and 56.6% accuracy in Set 1 and Set 2, while the Vision Transformer (ViT) model achieved 84.9% and 74.4% accuracy in Set 1 and Set 2, respectively. The CNN model showcased high accuracy at 96.7% and 94.8% in Set 1 and Set 2, followed closely by the ANN model with 96.7% and 96.6% accuracy. Lastly, the YOLOv8 model achieved 96.0% and 95.1% accuracy in Set 1 and Set 2, respectively. The comparative analysis identifies CNN and ANN as the top-performing algorithms. This research significantly contributes to the advancement of medicinal plant identification, pharmaceutical research, and environmental conservation efforts, emphasizing the potential of deep learning techniques in addressing complex classification tasks.