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  • Article

Indian botanicals and heritage wars

Colonial botanical texts, as astonishingly beautiful as they are, may cast very dark shadows.

  • Article

Hunting lost plants in botanical collections

A bark specimen at Kew recalls the story of a South American man who harvested the most potent source of the only effective malaria treatment available in the late 1800s. Killed for his work and forgotten by history, Manuel Mamani was a victim of the colonial juggernaut.

  • Book extract

Ayurveda: Knowledge for long life

The story of medicine in India is rich and complex. Aarathi Prasad investigates how it came to be this way.

  • Article

The healing power of the physic garden

Having experienced the healing power of plants and gardens, Iona Glen goes in search of present-day “physic gardens” and their origins in history.

All stories (8)

Images

  • The magnetic and botanic family physician, and domestic practice of natural medicine : with illustrations showing various phases of mesmeric treatment, including full and concise instruction in mesmerism, curative magnetism, massage, and medical botany / by D. Younger.
  • The magnetic and botanic family physician, and domestic practice of natural medicine : with illustrations showing various phases of mesmeric treatment, including full and concise instruction in mesmerism, curative magnetism, massage, and medical botany / by D. Younger.
  • The magnetic and botanic family physician, and domestic practice of natural medicine : with illustrations showing various phases of mesmeric treatment, including full and concise instruction in mesmerism, curative magnetism, massage, and medical botany / by D. Younger.
  • The magnetic and botanic family physician, and domestic practice of natural medicine : with illustrations showing various phases of mesmeric treatment, including full and concise instruction in mesmerism, curative magnetism, massage, and medical botany / by D. Younger.
  • The magnetic and botanic family physician, and domestic practice of natural medicine : with illustrations showing various phases of mesmeric treatment, including full and concise instruction in mesmerism, curative magnetism, massage, and medical botany / by D. Younger.
  • The magnetic and botanic family physician, and domestic practice of natural medicine : with illustrations showing various phases of mesmeric treatment, including full and concise instruction in mesmerism, curative magnetism, massage, and medical botany / by D. Younger.
  • The magnetic and botanic family physician, and domestic practice of natural medicine : with illustrations showing various phases of mesmeric treatment, including full and concise instruction in mesmerism, curative magnetism, massage, and medical botany / by D. Younger.
  • The magnetic and botanic family physician, and domestic practice of natural medicine : with illustrations showing various phases of mesmeric treatment, including full and concise instruction in mesmerism, curative magnetism, massage, and medical botany / by D. Younger.
  • The magnetic and botanic family physician, and domestic practice of natural medicine : with illustrations showing various phases of mesmeric treatment, including full and concise instruction in mesmerism, curative magnetism, massage, and medical botany / by D. Younger.
  • Rudbeckia triloba L. Asteraceae Orange Cone flower. Herbaceous perennial. Distribution: North America. It is named for Olof Rudbeck, father (1630–1702) and son (1660–1740). Olof Rudbeck the Elder was professor of medicine at Uppsala University, and established a botanic garden there. He was the discoverer of the human lymphatic system. His son succeeded his father as professor of medicine, and one of his students was Carl Linnaeus (1707–88) who named the genus Rudbeckia after him and his father. It is a plant which is poisonous to cattle, sheep and pigs with no medicinal uses. Austin (1974) discusses R. hirta, also regarded as a toxic plant. It was used externally by the Cherokee to bathe sores and snakebites and made into a tea for treating diarrhoea. The Seminoles used it for headaches and fever and the Miccosukee for sunstroke and headache. The Cherokee and the Iroquois used it to treat intestinal worms Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
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Perspective Tour with Kim Walker

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