Medicinal plants News

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Santa Marta's traditional medicine doctors Mauricio Martínez, Elicia Martínez and Viviana Montero stand among a plot of land containing curative plants.

The Panamanian shamans working to save their ancestral medicinal plants

Adam D. Williams 22 Oct 2024
Two young gorillas play in Gabon. Experts say humans' and gorillas' shared used of medicinal plants highlights the interconnectedness between humans and other apes. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Indigenous knowledge proves key in a study of plants gorillas use to self-medicate

Charles Mpaka 3 Oct 2024
Rainfall over the Amazon river. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

The Amazon is ablaze again. What it means for us (commentary)

Mark J. Plotkin 30 Sep 2024
Children are invited to guess the type of medicinal plant from its aroma.

Sumatra community school hands down ancient knowledge to modern generation

Teguh Suprayitno 7 Aug 2024
From left: Florinda Zurdo, Silvia Salina and Patricia Mendoza stand in a plot of land near ASASTRAN’s site in Lajero where traditional medicine is cultivated.

Indigenous midwives in Panama strive to preserve traditional medicine for maternal health

Adam D. Williams 25 Jul 2024

Sick chimps seek out medicinal plants to heal themselves, study finds

Charles Mpaka 20 Jun 2024
Juanita Torremocha harvests a medicinal herb in her backyard, located near Mount Bandilaan National Park at the heart of Siquijor Island.

Traditional healers in Philippines keep their ‘forest pharmacy’ standing

Keith Anthony S. Fabro 9 Feb 2024
Neem flowers

Ghana’s medicinal plants, the ‘first aid’ for communities, are under threat

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 2 Feb 2024
A farmer plucks moringa leaves.

Bangladeshi farmers eye moringa as a climate and economic solution

Abu Siddique 22 Jan 2024
Since 2014, Nerea Turreira-Garcia and Dimitris Argyriou have worked with Indigenous communities in Cambodia's Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary to identify species of flora and their uses to the communities. Image by Nerea Turreira-Garcia and Dimitris Argyriou.

‘Immense body of knowledge’ at stake in Cambodia’s Prey Lang as deforestation soars

Gerald Flynn 13 Dec 2023
Chörtens right outside the walled city of Lo Manthang. Image by Jean-Marie Hullot via Flickr (CC BY 2.0 Deed).

Traditional healers push for recognition and licensing of age-old Himalayan practice

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 5 Dec 2023
A red silk-cotton plantation.

Bangladesh ‘Village of Herbs’ profits from planting rather than cutting trees

Mohammad Al-Masum Molla 21 Jul 2023
Former lowland rainforest replaced with cocnut in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Deforestation in Borneo threatens three endangered, endemic plant species

Basten Gokkon 21 Apr 2023
Gotu kola image by Shahidul Hasan Roman via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

‘War with weeds’ lacks ecological understanding and empathy (commentary)

Nimal Chandrasena 1 Feb 2023
A rhododendron tree

Documenting Nepal’s plant-based medical tradition: Q&A with Ram Prasad Chaudhary

Abhaya Raj Joshi 28 Sep 2022
Hutan Keramat Penyabungan

Encircled by plantations, a Sumatran Indigenous community abides changing times

Suryadi 22 Aug 2022
“Naná" Gracia is an Indigenous P'urhépecha midwife, seen here in her ekuarho with granddaughter Alma in Angahuan, Michoachán, Mexico. Image by Monica Pelliccia for Mongabay.

Indigenous agroforestry dying of thirst amid a sea of avocados in Mexico

Monica Pelliccia 8 Jun 2022
Drying farmed cannabis.

Legal and illegal cannabis: A cause for growing environmental concern

Sean Mowbray 2 Jun 2022
Yadi, a member of the Menapo House

Saving medicinal plants a village cause in Indonesia

Warief Djajanto Basorie, Yitno Suprapto 26 May 2022
Mark Plotkin with an Embera shaman in the Darien on the Colombia-Panama. Photo credit: Amazon Conservation Team

Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin: Indigenous knowledge serves as a ‘connective tissue’ between nature and human well-being

Rhett A. Butler 31 Jan 2022

Indonesian research center for medicinal plants displaces incense harvesters

Barita News Lumbanbatu 13 Jan 2022

Not your ordinary houseplant: World’s tallest begonia found in Tibet

Liz Kimbrough 7 Jan 2022
Melanesia tropical fruits

Between land and sea: Agrobiodiversity holds key to health for Melanesian tribes

Carolyn Cowan 6 Dec 2021
Medicinal garden

Study confirms anti-inflammatory property of traditional Samoan remedy

Stephanie Melchor 19 Nov 2021
Myrna Cunningham

For some Indigenous, COVID presents possibility of cultural extinction, says Myrna Cunningham

Rhett A. Butler 11 Oct 2021

Extinction of Indigenous languages leads to loss of exclusive knowledge about medicinal plants

Sibélia Zanon 20 Sep 2021

Climate change threatens to squeeze out Indonesia’s medicinal plants

Basten Gokkon 18 Aug 2021

Traditional healers are preserving their knowledge, and with it, the biodiversity of Brazil’s savanna

Sarah Sax 12 Mar 2021

An economic case for competing in the XPRIZE Rainforest contest (commentary)

Jonah Wittkamper 1 Mar 2021
The Durmitor Mountains and the Tara River Canyon in Montenegro. Image by Pudelek (Marcin Szala) via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Protesters hold back military takeover of Balkans’ largest mountain pasture

John Cannon 18 Jan 2021
Rainbow over the Colombian Amazon. Photo © Wade Davis

Colombia, ethnobotany, and America’s decline: An interview with Wade Davis

Rhett A. Butler 21 Oct 2020

A Philippine tribe’s plant-based medical tradition gets its moment

Bong S. Sarmiento 2 Oct 2020

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