Last Thursday's Atlanta Botanical Garden Lecture

Some days you just need a good excuse to travel downtown into the City!  Atlanta is a beautiful city of trees. Sometimes it’s hard to stop everything and take the time to drive down.  I’ve just joined the Atlanta Botanical Garden to do just that!  This lecture series is one of several nudges to do so.  As I learn more about the gardens, I’m sure I’ll understand a bit why they call this lecture a part of the Alston Lecture series.  What drew me to the lecture?  Two main things. It was free and the topic was plants as medicine. 

A talk on plants…does it send you into the idea of a dry talk on plants that would send you to sleepy land in an uncomfortable seat?  Well I must confess, it was tucked in the back of my head too!  That was not the case last Thursday.  Chris Kilham kept us entertained with just enough story, culture, and pictures.   The herbs he spoke of came alive!  Being an explorer, many of his trips were to remote areas in search for not just medicinal plants, but the story behind the plants. Why were these particular plants of interest to the indigenous peoples of the Andes Mountains of Peru, or the peoples of India who use certain plants as part of time honored ayurvedic traditions? His aim was to educate us. We didn’t bank on it being entertaining too!

Chris took several herbs that are of interest and relayed the importance of these plants to the people while telling his experiences of visiting with them. When asked where their knowledge of these plants came from, the most uttered answer was from their grand mother!    There was an endless taste testing contest, dances around a bonfire, fire walking, and some seriously cold hiking in Siberia. 

One important property of plants that Chris reminded us about was Adaptogens. There is a small number of plants that are considered Adaptogens.  What does that mean?

Adaptogen– n.
Definition:  any of various natural substances that work through the adrenal glands to produce adjustments in the body to combat stress and increase resistance to stress, and which usually produce no side effects.

Now tell me, who could not use a little bit of help with stress?  Plants can help!  Chris spent a bit of time talking about how herbal medicine is considered unnecessarily dangerous by some.  That topic could have been discussed for a full week! Do you think drug companies want you going to the plant source for your medicine? There are similarities to the food industry here!

After the lecture, there was a trip to the gift shop where Chris signed two of his books, Kava: Medicine Hunting in Paradise and Hot Plants.  It seems that Chris also has a website where he sells a formulation of herbs that help with sexual libido. They are customized for men and women.  Chris has my respect. While he sells his formulations of herbs, they are not patented.  You can be sure that the herbs are obtained via fair trade and with the upmost of care. He clearly has a connection with the peoples that grow and gather these lovely plants. You can read more about Chris at Medicine Hunter.com. There is also a neat interview from Natural News that is worth a read.

Another term or title that I didn’t know before this lecture is Ethnobotany.  Several Ethno botanists speak about plants in the movie Numen- The nature of plants.  If our country is smart, we will all move to think in terms like these.  It would be thrilling to see our own culture evolve to value more of the plants around us.

Happy Washing!
~Regina