High tech air purification with houseplants

In the 1980s, NASA spent millions of dollars on how to deal with unhealthy indoor environments.

They were interested in the big challenge of purifying air on space stations and long space flights.

Here’s what they came up with…

Houseplants.

The simplest plant to take care of:

Sansevieria laurentii, also known as “mother-in-law’s tongue” and “snake plant.”

The original NASA paper is here:

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073077.pdf

The specs

Still more

– … Read more

Foraging & Feasting with Dina Falconi


Download the mp3 here 

The ideal introduction to plants, herbs and “weeds” would be to have a grandmother (or grandfather) take us by the hand through the fields and woods from an early age.

In these “modern” times, few of us have that experience. Our guest on this installment of PlantWisdom.org, Dina Falcone, certainly didn’t.

Dina grew up in New York City’s East Village in the 1970s, an urban … Read more

“Weeds are part of our future”

Earlier this year we did an interview with Tama Matsuoka Wong of MeadowsandMore.

It was one of our most popular programs so I thought you might like to see her TED talk.

If you’d like to help our publishing efforts here at Plant Wisdom – and we can certainly use the help – consider contributing to our parent company The Real Food Channel that makes this programming possible.

Thanks and … Read more

Herb Sources

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This is a beginning list. We will add to it as we learn of new reliable sources.

Avena Botanicals

Green Terrestrial
(802) 375-8087

Herbalist and Alchemist

The Herb Wyfe

Jean’s Greens

Jeanne Rose’s Herbal Product

Mountain Rose Herbs

Simpler’s Botanicals

– Ken McCarthy
PlantWisdom.org

Read more

What is herbalism’s proper role?

Herbalism is not science “lite.”

It’s also not an alternative therapy.

It’s a sophisticated healing system unto itself that has played and continues to play an essential role in the care and survival of the human race.

This is a talk that David Hoffman gave to the American Herbalists Guild Symposium in Portland, Oregon on November 5th, 2005.

In it he addresses the subversion of herbalism by Big Business and … Read more

Photographer Robert Llewellyn

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Photographer Robert Llewellyn is the author of three books: “Seeing Trees”, “Seeing Flowers”, and “Seeing Seeds.”

“When I first looked at trees — really looked at them — it was like meeting another civilization,”

“Picking up a camera changes how I see things. The plant world, previously hiding in plain sight, now reveals itself as another civilization living among us. They have a plan. I’ll never see them the same … 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

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

Dr. James Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

Dr. James A. Duke, PhD, Ethnobotanist, PhD in Botany (UNC, Chapel Hill; Phi Beta Kappa; Distinguished Alumnus), served  3 years with Missouri Botanical Garden,  7 years with Battelle Memorial Institute in Panama, Colombia and Columbus Ohio, as an ecologist; and 27 years as economic botanist, with USDA in Beltsville, Md.

On Sept. 30, 1995, he retired from the USDA.  Before retiring, Dr. Duke brought his ethnobotanical and phytochemical database online … Read more