Medicinal Plant Lecture And Discussion At MOBOT

By Julie Bierach 

St. Louis, MO - Close to one-third of modern prescription medicines contain a plant-derived ingredient, yet only a tiny fraction of the 250,000 or more known plant species have been evaluated with modern methods for pharmaceutical use. Join Dr. Rainer Bussmann, William L. Brown Curator of Economic Botany at the William L. Brown Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden, for an informal discussion about medicinal plants at Science Café, on Thursday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. at Herbie’s Restaurant (formally Balban’s), 405 N. Euclid Ave. in St. Louis. The event is free to attend. Food and beverages are available for purchase.

Bussmann will discuss the William L. Brown Center’s commitment to understanding human relationships with plants and their environment, and how through conserving plant species, humans can preserve traditional knowledge for the benefit of future generations. Bussmann will also discuss how he and other researchers document traditional medicinal species and their associated healing knowledge in South America, Madagascar and Asia. Researchers at the William L. Brown Center also help to certify the ingredients and effectiveness of promising mixtures, while helping local communities to produce these plants in a sustainable way.

“This approach allows us to address various problems at the same time,” said Bussmann. “Safe, verified herbal preparations can be used in public health locally or on a larger scale. The livelihood of poor communities is improved by providing them with better income, and this ultimately helps to protect the environment.”
Science Café offers stimulating conversation about issues in the news each month. The series is presented by the Saint Louis Science Center and the Missouri Botanical Garden.

For more information, visit www.slsc.org or call (314) 289-4474.

The Missouri Botanical Garden’s mission is “to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment, in order to preserve and enrich life.” Today, 150 years after opening, the Missouri Botanical Garden is a National Historic Landmark and a center for science, conservation, education and horticultural display. Missouri Botanical Garden: Green for 150 Years.