Father of Modern Ethnobotany
The father of modern ethnobotany is Richard Evans Schultes, A kind and gentle
man, with so much wisdom and knowledge he had treasured after living with
several tribal cultures. He was born 12 January 1915 in Boston. Nobody would
suspect this little guy would travel around the world and force the west to look
at herbal medicine in a totally new perspective. He died in 2001 at the age of
86, a man filled with accomplishments and considered the father of modern
ethnobotany.
He won a scholarship for medicine in Harvard, where he switched from medicine
to botany. After graduation, he started studying hallucinogens, this is the
beginning of his life long journeys exploring plants and their properties. He
was among the first westerners who experienced peyote and the ceremony changed
his life. In 1941 he investigated curare and the ingredients with which they
were made, again he traveled to brazil to unravel a mystery, with his findings
many new medicines were developed. He suggested the rubber tree Heva as a
replacement of rubber in the second world war.
He studied hallucinogenic plants like peyote throughout his life, and even
had a basket filled with these for his students at campus. He helped the west
understand the importance of preservation and protecting the rainforest, in
times where the west could not even imagine Indians having something valuable to
offer them.
He was a peace loving man, and in his many years as an expeditionary, he
never carried a rifle. He had many adventures in his travels, you can just
imagine the diseases, political problems in third world countries, sometimes he
was taken for dead and so many other experiences he lived during his time in the
jungle. He lived twelve years in the rain forest. He single-handedly collected
24,000 specimens.
He promoted that the benefits from ethnobotany were for the keepers of that
culture. This love and respect for other cultures, along with the study of the
plant he asked the investigators to understand the people who used it and their
lessons. This opened for him many doors in many counties and tribes. In those
times, nobody cared about plants and their healing powers, tribal elders told
great stories about the man.
In 1953 he became the director of Harvard university's botanical museum and
gave classes.
He managed to gather ethnobotanical information from anthropologists,
linguists, historians, geographers, chemists, doctors, plant taxonomists and
many others.
He published 9 books. He was an experienced explorer, with knowledge of codex
and archeology. As professor he formed great students all agree on calling him
the father of modern ethnobotany.
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