The Father of Modern Ethnobotany

The Father of Modern Ethnobotany

Richard Evans Schultes — 1 recording in the archive.

The book: Plants of the Gods by Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hofmann.

Ethnobotany is simply the study of plants used by primitive societies in different parts of the world. It's very simple. And ethnobotany has existed for many, many thousands of years. And now we are trying to save some of the knowledge that primitive societies accumulated over thousands of years and passed down from father to son orally. With each new road, airport, missionary, trader, or even tourist, this knowledge quickly disappears, because when our effective medicines are brought and given to the Indians, they sometimes forget within one generation what their ancestors discovered through experiments. experimentation, and we may lose wonderful clues for finding new medicines for all of humanity. Ahem. This happens in all parts of the world where people still live in so-called primitive societies. Many of our common medicines were originally discovered in plants and later synthesized for greater availability. But, for example, in the Amazon there are 80,000 species of plants. So that you have at least some idea for comparison. In New England there are 1,900, and there are 80,000. If chemists try to obtain samples of 80,000 species, analyze them, and pass them on to pharmacologists, the work will never be completed. We should focus on those plants that people in these societies have already identified as having an effect on the human body. We may never use chemical compounds from them. In some cases, we can use them for the same purpose. We can use them for completely different reasons. For example, I first went to South America to study arrow poisons, which in 1941 were becoming very important in medicine. They are still important today, as their extracts are used as muscle relaxants before surgery. But here's an example: Indians use these poisoned arrows to kill. We use them to help preserve life. Completely different methods of application . Another example is rotenone. Natives catch fish by throwing bark into standing water in the Amazon. And these plants contain rotenone. Of course, we don't want to poison our rivers any more than they are already poisoned. Because then we won't have any fish. But rotenone is now our best biodegradable insecticide, capable of treating thousands of acres against pests. It decomposes in two to three days and does not accumulate, without poisoning plants, animals, and, ultimately, people. That's why I feel that some of my work will ultimately prove beneficial to all…