Abstract Detail

Healing the planet: medicinal plants and the legacy of Richard E. Schultes

Bussmann, Rainer [1].

"I know every tree, every single tree one can see" - The life and legacyof Richard E. Schultes.

If any body could be named as the father of Ethnobotany, it would be Richard E. Schultes (1915-2001). No researcher has ever done more field research, more to promote the discipline, and has encouraged more students to become ethnobotanists, with almost every senior scientist in the field acknowledging some connection to Schultes. Well known scholars like Mike Balick, Robert Bye, Wade Davis, Doel Soejarto and Andrew Weil were all Schultesians, but Schultes also inspired generations of non-academics and always freely shared his time and advice. Schultes published almost two dozen books and almost 500 papers, collected over 30000 herbarium numbers, often with dozens of copies, conducted continuous fieldwork in the Amazon for over 14 years, and created what can only be called the golden age of Economic Botany. How did Schultes, growing up in a poor second generation immigrant family, come to such fame? Who was this man, fluent in ten languages, who spent his entire career linked to or at Harvard, and became the focal point of generations of useful plant researchers and plant users, and created this by any account magical work setting that gave unrivaled opportunities to students, staff and visitors? And how could it happen, that the legacy of a widely decorated scholar got quickly forgotten at his home institution, and his incredible plant material and artifact collection is left to accumulate dust in a Harvard attic?

Broader Impacts:

1 - Missouri Botanical Garden, William L Brown Center For Plant Genetic Resources, PO Box 299, St. Louis, MO, 63166-0299, USA

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY04
Location: Maryland Room/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Time: 8:15 AM
Number: SY04002
Abstract ID:23