Medicinal plants News

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Researcher Ricardo Marques visiting a forest seedling nursery in the Amazon. Image courtesy of Hylaea.

Secret Amazon species may be new source of ibogaine for addiction treatment

Jenny Gonzales 30 Jun 2026
A jimbu (Allium przewalskianum) in the Tibetan Plateau.

What’s jimbu? The herb that bolsters an iconic Nepali dish could also help save snow leopards

Bibek Bhandari 30 Jun 2026

Global pressure on ayahuasca threatens Amazonian plants and knowledge systems

Carlos Minuano 23 Jun 2026
This plant is classified as a halophyte, or capable of surviving in high-salinity environments. Image by Vengolis via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

In Indonesia, a coastal vine used as medicine now signals ecological decline

Christopel Paino 9 Apr 2026
Pranisha Pun harvests a cordyceps mushroom in western Nepal. Image by Sushil Mainali / ANSAB.

Sustainable trade in wild plants benefits people and planet (commentary)

Richard Scobey 2 Mar 2026
Rainforest in northern Borneo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Endangered knowledge and endangered plants: Threats to Indigenous medicinal traditions in Borneo

Cassidy Beach 1 Dec 2025

IDB financed meat & poultry company that polluted Indigenous Ecuador lands: Report

Ana Cristina Alvarado 21 Nov 2025
Tropical forest and river in Suriname. Image courtesy of Mark J. Plotkin.

Top ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin’s COP30 reflections on Amazon conservation (analysis)

Mark J. Plotkin 17 Nov 2025

The uncertain future of DRC’s traditional medicine, a heritage to save (commentary)

Blaise Kasereka Makuta 6 Nov 2025
Community people in Jhumlabang gathered in a community meeting in July. Image courtesy of Jhumlabang Village Foundation (JVF).

In Nepal’s hills, a fight brews over the country’s biggest iron deposit

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 17 Oct 2025
Giant monkey frog in the Western Amazon. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler

The hidden environmental cost of psychedelics

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Oct 2025
A flower of the Moringa oleifera tree, which is valued for its medicinal properties.

In DRC’s Kivu region, the moringa tree offers valuable health benefits

Blaise Kasereka Makuta 9 Oct 2025
A flowering shoot of jambu.

Amazon jambu blends tradition and science for numbing flavors and healthcare

Sarah Brown 18 Aug 2025
Ampalaya, or bitter gourd (Momordica charantia)

Filipino communities use vast variety of endemic plants for health: Study

Keith Anthony Fabro 12 Aug 2025
Banner Image: Reshu Bashyal receives the Whitley Award from Princess Anne, patron of the Whitley Fund for Nature in London. Image courtesy WFN.

Reshu Bashyal becomes fourth Nepali in as many years to win Whitley Award

Abhaya Raj Joshi 1 May 2025
Banner image of the Bougainville forest planted by Carteret Islanders, by Thibault Le Pivain for Mongabay.

PNG climate migrants sail away with native trees to their new home

Mongabay.com 28 Nov 2024
Carteret islanders on a canoe. Image credit: Friends of the Earth.

In a Noah’s Ark move, PNG migrants bring thousands of trees to safer ground

Thibault Le Pivain 21 Nov 2024
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 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
Amanita muscaria is a mushroom that is both hallucinogenic and poisonous. Image posted by creator 942784 to the Creative Commons via Pixabay.

‘A psychedelic renaissance’: How hallucinogens can aid conservation

Mike DiGirolamo 20 Jun 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

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