Wade Davis on Richard Evans Schultes

In the previous post, we introduced Richard Evans Schultes though a short video and excerpts of an interview conducted with him later in his life.

In this video, his student and protege Wade Davis goes much deeper into Schultes’ story.

Absolutely fascinating and excellent preparation for seeing the new movie “Abrazo de la Serpiente” (Embrace of the Serpent) – which I’ve now seen three times.

If this account of Schultes’s … Read more

Richard Evans Schultes (1915-2001)

Richard Evans Schultes (1915-2001) was probably the greatest explorer of the Amazon, and regarded among anthropologists and seekers alike as the “father of ethnobotany.”

Taking what was meant to be a short leave from Harvard in 1941, he surveyed the Amazon basin almost continuously for twelve years, during which time he lived among two dozen different Indian tribes, mapped rivers, secretly sought sources of rubber for the US government during … Read more

The spirit of plants and healing with Baba Rahsan

 Baba Rahsan Abdul Hakim

Baba Rahsan Abdul Hakim

Baba Rahsan Abdul Hakim grew up in Jamaica where his training in plants began when he was a small child at the hands of his grandmother, aunt and mother.

His grandfather, Charles Williams, was an important horticulturist and agriculturist who introduced a number of useful plants to Jamaica. He was the uncredited developer of the Hope Garden, the largest botanical garden in the Caribbean.

As an … Read more

Do trees talk to each other?

Do trees talk to each other?

Yes they do and their communication is mediated by fungi beneath the surface of the ground.

This communication enables trees and other plants to share resources, thereby helping the whole forest to flourish.

Here’s a quick overview of the key principles from Dr. Suzanne Simard.

She’s Professor of Forest Ecology in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia.… Read more

Intelligence in Nature

If you don’t know Jeremy Narby, you should.

He’s a “diplomat between two systems of knowledge.”

Narby as born in Montreal in 1959 and grew up in Canada and Switzerland.

He studied history at the University of Canterbury and received a doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University.

Narby spent several years living with the Ashaninca in the Peruvian Amazon cataloging their understanding and use of the plants in their forest … Read more

The unreported risks of bio engineered food

Biological ‘products’ cannot be recalled

It took decades for corporate-owned science to discover that things like tobacco and processed meats are deadly.

But GMOs were given a clean bill of health with next-to-no testing and certainly no multi-year tests on humans.

Here’s what Big Pharma says about its own products:

“Biological products have definite risks as they are only partially understood at the time of their approval.”

What are GMOs … Read more

Dr. James Duke on the potential of cannabis medicine


Download the mp3 here

Jim Duke – “Better Living Through Phytochemistry” – with Potentilla recta, Cinquefoil – The Green Farmacy Garden’s legal representative of Cannabis sativa as displayed in the Glaucoma plot of his garden.

If this is your first exposure to Dr. Duke, we strongly recommend you take some time to dig deeper into his work and career.

More more information:

A short bio of Dr. Duke

Dr. Read more

The Plant List

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The Internet is full of wonders.

Here’s another one: A database of all the world’s plants.

It’s called, what else? The Plant List.

The Plant List a working list of all known plant species. It’s goal is to be comprehensive for species of Vascular plant (flowering plants, conifers, ferns and their allies) and of Bryophytes (mosses and liverworts).

It’s a collaboration between the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical … Read more

The tree of life

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A first draft of the “tree of life” for the roughly 2.3 million named species of animals, plants, fungi and microbes — from platypuses to puffballs — has been released.

A collaborative effort among eleven institutions, the tree depicts the relationships among living things as they diverged from one another over time, tracing back to the beginning of life on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago.

Tens of thousands … Read more

Study: Living among tress gives you a health boost

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A massive study of trees and human health in Toronto yields results that confirm what many sensible people feel.

Trees are good for you.

How good?

The statistics show that having ten or more trees on your block gives the health benefits of being seven years younger.

Yeah. Wow!

Original article:

Neighborhood greenspace and health in a large urban center

Popular article from Toronto Star:

Living on tree line streets Read more