[MPWG] eat the weeds - weeds as medicine

Fri Feb 4 00:28:00 CST 2005

It is good news that researchers around the world are thinking on utilization aspect. Most of the herbs used traditionally by the traditional healers in my region grow as weed.This occurence makes the drugs cheap and easily available.I am forwarding my work on this aspect.You can forward it to the concerned researchers.

Traditional Healers Have Found Over 138 Herbs Effective Against Cancer.
http://www.ecoport.org/perl/ecoport15.pl?SearchType=earticleView&earticleId=569

Unique Ways To Get Rid from Fever.
http://www.ecoport.org/perl/ecoport15.pl?SearchType=earticleView&earticleId=344

regards
Pankaj Oudhia
Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov wrote:

As for actual weeds being relegated back to the useful category, perhaps
it's best kept a "secret" but they do exist.

Below are a couple of links to fairly recent research endeavors underway at
US universities in which they "discovered" that weeds may contain medicine
- EUREKA!

Note that the first article concerns research being conducted by an
anthropology student; the second involves agronomy students. These are just
two examples of how we (humans in general) tend to focus in on really
specific aspects of a process and then get surprised when we "realize" that
it's really part of the bigger picture from which we diverged.

My personal opinion is that categories that we create for nature or natural
processes are inherently flawed because they impose artificial constructs
(with boundaries) on natural systems (which is a continuum). So, it's very
important to clarify what is meant by certain terms or classification
systems and to continually remind ourselves that the label or system may
not be applicable to every eventuality.

So, here is our monthly reminder that all of this stuff is actually
related!

>From Weeds to Medicine 
By Tom Zoellner (RESEARCH MAGAZINE) 

"During a seven-month study in Chiapas, Mexico, anthropology doctoral
candidate John Stepp found that medicinal plants might be easier to find
than originally thought. "

* Read the full article at:
http://www.ovpr.uga.edu/researchnews/summer2001/weeds.html

New Mexico graduate students use a grant from the National Cancer Institute
to study the therapeutic qualities of plants: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
story

By CAROL SMITH (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER) 

"Imagine if new cancer drugs grew like weeds...
...Common weeds may hide nature's way to fight cancer
Imagine if new cancer drugs grew like weeds. That's precisely
what a group of New Mexico graduate students was doing at the
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center: trying to mine native
plants for potential anti-cancer drugs."

* Read the full article at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/114678_ccancer28.shtml

Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist - Division of Scientific Authority
Chair - Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Group
US Fish & Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 750
Arlington, VA 22203
703-358-1708 x1753
FAX: 703-358-2276
Working for the conservation and sustainable use of our green natural
resources.

pankaj oudhia 

To: MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org 
Sent by: cc: 
MPWG-bounces at lists.plantconse Subject: RE: [MPWG] eat the weeds 
rvation.org 

02/03/2005 10:32 AM 

Hi Bob,
If corn is weed in soybean fields and a crop in monoculture then why
we have declared some plants as obnoxious weeds for whole territory or
country?

When any plant comes in the category of weeds all doors are closed for its
return to the list of useful plants. Why it is so? Are we having any
example when any weed has been included in the category of useful plant
after the discovery of its useful properties.

regards
Pankaj Oudhia

Bob Beyfuss wrote:
Hi Fred
In the big picture I agree with you completely, humans in North American
are pretty invasive weeds themselves! As you know nature abhors a vacuum
and plants will fill it quickly. Human or natural disturbances create the
opportunities. I think Ben Franklin defined a weed as "a plant whose
virtues have yet to be discovered"! In the short term "human centric"
picture however, I have to disagree. We have always chosen plants we find
useful regardless of their origin. 90% of our US food supply is derived
from "exotic" plants and animals, including such "American" staples as
sweet apples and beef cattle. When we manipulate an environment for our
own
purposes, WE decide what are weeds and what are not. Corn is a highly
edible plant but "volunteer" corn growing in a soybean field is a weed.
Kudzu was first introduced as both an erosion control plant and a food
crop
for cattle. It is actually highly nutritious. I don't necessarily believe
that "native" is superior to "exotic". Indeed, I find that a rather
fascist
concept. As the self appointed steward of the land I temporarily own I
decide what plants I want growing on it. Plants that I consider
undesirable
will be removed, including my native poison ivy. There is often a
significant lag time between when a plant or for that matter an insect
pest
is introduced into a new area and when it actually become naturalized.
Gypsy moths and the hemlock wooly adelgid in Asia do not cause the massive

defoliation and havoc they wreck in the Northeastern U.S. In time, they
will cease to cause such havoc but for my lifetime and probably my
children's lifetime, they will. Humans have manipulated ecosystems for
their own purposes since fire was domesticated. Eliminating invasive
plants from a landscape is not much different than weeding your vegetable
garden. So what does this have to do with medicinal plants? (I can hear
Patricia yawning right about now) Actually, quite a lot. If a plant in
India is identified as medicinal but has the potential to grow like Kudzu,

I don't want my neighbor planting it next to my property regardless of its

virtues.
Bob

is At 04:21 PM 2/2/2005 -0900, you wrote:
>Bob, I have to disagree with with your statement about concern over using

>unwanted plants that you refer to as "invasive". Actually that is what
>needs to happen and will eventually happen with all of these plants at
>some point. They will become useful. If you go back far enough
eliminating
>plants viewed as invasive at some point there would be no plants in north

>america. Lets not discriminate also. We need to get rid of apples, brown
>trout, tomatoes, cabbage, and on and on. What we are really talking about

>is a political system applied to nature that puts political timelines on
>species which have always moved about with or without mans help. When
>plants first arrive on new land they become dense monocultures and can at

>first cause havic. Eventually they come under control and just add to the

>biodiversity. If you really think about it you will realize that is true.

>Nature finds ways to bring things back into line.
>As a knifemaker I use all sorts of materials and my favorite is
multiflora
>rose. This past weekend I sold three hunting knives with multiflora
grips.
>It is a truly beautiful wood with exotic grain and it is very hard. I am
>running out on this farm between this use and the fact that both cattle
>and goats eat it. It is very high in protein as a forage. The deer like
it
>also. It helps as successional plants in old fields returning to forest
>and then it gets shaded out as the canopy develops. These do gooders will

>do far more harm and waste a lot of time and money killing such plants
>than any harm it could ever cause. The problem with the presence of too
>many of any kind of plant has more to do with poor land management than
>anything. As a certified educator of Holistic Resource Management certain

>principles apply that are unchanged over the eons. The way these plants
>behave is nothing new. Fred Hays
>
>>From: Bob Beyfuss
>>To: MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
>>Subject: [MPWG] eat the weeds
>>Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 16:40:45 -0500
>>
>>I think eating weeds is a good idea, many of them are far more
nutritious
>>than their cultivated counterparts, i.e. dandelion. I will send her lots

>>of recipes from an Extension bulletin I wrote in 1977. I am not so sure
>>publishing recipes for invasive plants is a good idea. The reason we
have
>>some of these plants today is because they were purposely introduced as
>>food crops for us or cattle, i.e., Kudzu. As recently as last year I saw

>>garlic mustard seed for sale in a catalogue as an edible green.
>>Bob
>>
>>
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>> Disclaimer
>> Any advice given on
>> this list regarding diagnosis or treatments etc. reflects ONLY the
>> opinion of the individual who posts the message. The information
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>> or question. All medical and other healthcare information that is
>> discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by the individual
>> reader and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts do not
reflect
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>

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information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a
substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific
medical condition or question. All medical and other healthcare
information that is discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by
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To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to MPWG-request at lists.plantconservation.org
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Disclaimer
Any advice given on this list regarding diagnosis or treatments etc.
reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual who posts the message. The
information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a
substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific
medical condition or question. All medical and other healthcare information
that is discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by the
individual reader and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts do not
reflect any official opinions or positions of the Plant Conservation
Alliance.

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