Presented by Dennis Carey, Curator, and Blake Wentley, Education Assistant, JC Raulston Arboretum on January 15, 2025.
Many plants produce defensive chemicals that not only protect the plant, but have the potential to be used to create all sorts of medicines for humans as well. This is one of the reasons conserving plant biodiversity is so important; if we lose the plants, we also lose the potentially lifesaving medicines within. Join us for this Midweek with Dennis, where our Curator will give you a brief history of humanity's relationship with using plants as medicines and show off some of the plants from the garden that have been used to save a life or two.
Further Reading:
Plants for a Future - https://pfaf.org/
Native American Ethnobotany Database - http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=dye
Mansoor 2023, Plants with cosmetic uses,Phytotherapy Research 2023;1-14
US Forest Service - https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/
In Defense of Plants Blog - https://www.indefenseofplants.com/podcast/2018/8/19/ep-174-botanical-chemistry
Plants are Chemists blog - https://plantsarechemists.blogspot.com/
This program was a live performance that was streamed online and was recorded using a video conferencing service. Tune into our midweek program live on Zoom, Wednesdays at 3:00pm eastern time. Here's the link: https://jcra.ncsu.edu/midweek/