Dangerous Gardens contain cure-all, do-nothing, feel-good, poisonous beauties
Dangerous Garden by author, botanist, columnist, gardener, and nurseryman David Stuart acknowledges individual significance and societal impacts from the quest for plants to:
• access gods;
• change lives;
• drive sex;
• end disease and pain;
• expand minds;
• kill.
The 2004 release begins with an introduction to two of 10,000+ world-renowned medicinal plants. The Harvard University Press publication considers:
• the placebo effect of justified or unjustified beliefs in curers and cures since the time of Roman imperial physician Galen (129 – 199?);
• the recorded uses of rhubarb, from Roman aphrodisiac to Medieval plague-fighter to sixteenth-century ague and syphilis remedies to twenty-first century late-spring pie-filling;
• the twentieth-century vetting of cancer-, convulsion-, paralysis-causing colchicine in arthritis- and gout-prescribed, saffron-flavored, stimulating autumn crocus (Colchicum).
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Website: http://www.david-stuart.co.uk/dangerous.html
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Comments
frankbeswick, Excellent observation! Alternative, homeopathic, modern and traditional medicine, like surgery, call for a steady hand.
The poison is sometimes in the dose, for in some cases what is poisonous in normal quantities can be used as a medicine by one adept in medical arts.
katiem2, Some of the entries surprise me too even though the author is competent and research tends to verify what he says. Purple coneflowers also are among my favorites too, and I'll have to remember to copy you in serving them up as bird feed this year.
Interesting, it is amazing how much the earth provides for our benefit. I grow purple cone flowers, I love them, they are hearty and pretty all season from spring to late fall and it is then they feed the birds. I was surprised to find them on the list.
sandyspider, Yes, indeed! I prefer the plants that are beneficial and nice to smell, taste and view even though I like a good mystery (regarding why a plant is here) and I prefer to know what plants need to be avoided by people, pets and wildlife.
It is amazing the effects of plants and what they can do for us.
frankbeswick, That's a very sweet image of your wife seeing to it that you get your mints timely! Me too, I forgot to mention that sometimes mints help me when I need to be alert and concentrated on longer drives.
I take a non-sweetened caffeine drink before I set off, but ensure that I do not drink it all in one go. I like to stop for breaks, when I take some more of it. But a key part of my strategy is to take a good supply of strong mints, which I chew while I drive, for mint is very effective at helping sustain concentration. If my wife is with me she hands me the mints while I drive.
frankbeswick, I drank guaraná as soft drink and as tea when I lived in Brazil. It's refreshing in both forms, and I've had them, but only rarely, on this side of the pond when I've gotten together -- although not recently -- with Brazilian acquaintances.
Otherwise, I haven't sought them out because I tend to think they taste and work best when taken with the drinks and foods they're used to being served with. So I've never thought of guaraná in terms of a stimulating drink on its own but as a Brazilian drink to be taken in tandem with Brazilian appetizers, foods, or snacks.
On long drives, I settle for discreetly flavored water, mineral water, or water since I like cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot, and water is wonderful water as long as it's not too cold or too hot.
What do you usually choose?
How safe do you think guarana is? I know that it is not poisonous, but is a stimulant. However, in my case I have a problem that I suffer sometimes from palpitations, and so I have to be very careful with stimulants, though the main preventative strategy is to avoid stress. When doing long drives I like to take a drink that sustains concentration, but I am unsure whether to take guarana products.