The youtube video, "Connecting Modern Medicine To Traditional Healing" is a TED talk about Dr. Cheo Torres talking about different healing methods that his family and friends used growing up. He says that the two different aspects of healing are mind and spirit. His mother practiced these healing methods within Dr. Torres’ home. Dr. Torres then talks about veering away from western medicines and using traditional healing in place of western healing

TEDxTalks, director. Connecting Modern Medicine To Traditional Healing. YouTube, YouTube, 27 Sept. 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiqrtsN9xis. Accessed 30 Sept. 2022. 

Chapter 9 of the book “Stars Above, Earth Below” by Marsha C. Bol was about the uses of “American Indian Plants” in the traditional, Native American ways. It talks about different plants that were used and are still used today such as wild parsley, yarrow, and pine. This chapter also talks about the ways in which these plants are used. An interesting part of this was that other herbs that were higher in fragrance were added to medicines to improve flavor or to prevent other competing healers from finding out which plant they are using.

Bol, Marsha C. “9 American Indian Plant Use: An Overview.” Stars above, Earth below American Indians and Nature, Rinehart, Niwot, Colo, 1998.

Chapter 10 of the book “Stars Above, Earth Below” was an interview between Nancy Turner and Daisy Sewid-Smith. Within the interview, Sweid-Smith explained the uses of plants as medicine. The importance of plants used as medicine was stressed within the interview. “The doctors gave up on me and i was saved through plants.” was a very impactful quote from Sewid-Smith. The “Traditional Use of Plants” section of the interview as a whole, gave me a lot of knowledge on the uses of these plants.

Bol, Marsha C. “10 The Sacred Cedar Tree of the Kwakwaka’wak People.” Stars above, Earth below American Indians and Nature, Rinehart, Niwot, Colo, 1998.

This youtube video is a ted talk about Dr. Cheo Torres talking about different healing methods that his family and friends used growing up. He says that the two different aspects of healing are mind and spirit. His mother practiced these healing methods within Dr. Torres’ home. Dr. Torres then talks about veering away from western medicines and using traditional healing in place of western healing

WyoPBS. “Medicinal Herbs - Farm to Fork Wyoming.” YouTube, YouTube, 14 June 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC2veI7Tvfg

The reading titled “Medicinal Plants at Risk: Nature’s Pharmacy, Our Treasure Chest: Why We Must Conserve Our Natural Heritage” is about the decline of medicinal plants and their growth. We also learn about the ways in which the big pharmaceutical companies are utilizing ethnobotany to make money. I learned that each new plant derived drug is worth an average of $94 million to drug companies and $449 million to society” which is very shocking however, not surprising. 

Medicinal Plants at Risk - Biological Diversity. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/papers/Medicinal_Plants_042008_lores.pdf.

The article “Conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants: problems, progress, and prospects” is similarly related to the “Plants at Risk” article. This article talks about the ways in which we are losing our medicinal plants at a fast rate. “Earth is losing at least one potential major drug every 2 years” is a scary part of this article because as each plant is being lost, the culture of the people of Earth is being lost. 

Chen, Shi-Lin, et al. “Conservation and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants: Problems, Progress, and Prospects - Chinese Medicine.” BioMed Central, BioMed Central, 30 July 2016, https://cmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13020-016-0108-7

"Herbal life: traditional medicine gets a modern twist in Iran'' is an article about the uses of different variants of medicinal botany in Iran. Within this article, Shahla, an Iranian “encyclopaedia of traditional medicine” informs readers of the benefits of plants like pennyroyal, marjoram, and tumeric along with mint tincture and dog-rose tincture. There are 8,000 medicinal plants that grow in Iran where 2,000 of which grow only in this country. Ali Javadi, a traditional medicine practitioner also informs readers that, “Over the past decade, due to sanctions, the cost of medical treatment has increased. People have turned more to herbal treatment, which is not as expensive.” which increased the use of medicinal botany by 13% in 2012. In Iran, there are businesses opening up that are mostly destroying medicinal botany and the market of such. These businesses are writing faulty prescriptions and are “informing” customers that they have the remedies for major health issues inside their shop. “The side effects of herbal remedies are limited, but still if used wrongly, they can cause problems,” is a warning that the people of Iran are trying to get out to the people using medicinal botany at their will however, it is also made known that the healing period of medicinal botany is longer than of chemical drugs

“Herbal Life: Traditional Medicine Gets a Modern Twist in Iran.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Apr. 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/apr/11/iran-traditional-medicine-herbs-regulation-tehranbureau.

The article, “Harvest For The Hungry Garden: Chinese Medicinal Plants.”, is about three different types of medicinal plants that are used in China. Lycium Chinensis (Chinese Wolfberry), Astragalus Membranaceus, and Atractylodes Macrocephala are the three plants readers are informed of in this article. The chinese wolfberry is used for eyes because it has high levels of beta-carotene. Astragalus membranaceus is used to boost energy and stamina, treat anemia, liver disease, and to enhance the immune system. Atractylodes Macrocephala is a plant widely used by athletes in China because it regulates the digestive system and is a powerful energy booster.

“Harvest For The Hungry Garden: Chinese Medicinal Plants.” Harvest for the Hungry Garden: Chinese Medicinal Plants, http://harvestgarden.org/chinese_medicinals.html. 

In this video called, “Medicinal Plants of Southern Africa E01: Introduction to Plant Medicine” Gus, “The African plant hunter”, talks about the history of use of medicinal plants as humans. We know about the use of medicinal botany through archaeological records and the fact that other species use it as well. He says there are 4 and a half thousand year old pictures of a poppy head that suggests it was being used for medicinal uses. He talks about morphine from poppy, quinine from a citrona tree, and atropine as the first evolution of phytochemistry. Gus says at least 75% of the world population regularly uses traditional medicine. The scientific reason that plants produce chemical compounds used for medicine is for plant defense, so animals won't eat them. Traditional healers in Africa say the plants were put there by nature to serve as medicine for people. Ten percent of all plants have medicinal properties. As this video is just the introduction, the series of “Medicinal Plants of Southern Africa” goes on and on about different plants and their uses.

“Medicinal Plants of Southern Africa E01: Introduction to Plant Medicine.” YouTube, YouTube, 7 Nov. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSwwdSVFNWQ. Accessed 16 Feb. 2023.