Plant History

Magic Medicine is an armchair traveler's guide to all substances psychedelic! Listeners will learn about their properties, use, lore, place in history, and their current research and applications as medicine.

Several years ago, ecologist Lauren E. Oakes set out from California for Alaska's old-growth forests to hunt for a dying tree: the yellow-cedar. With climate change as the culprit, the death of this species meant loss for many Alaskans. Oakes and her research team wanted to chronicle how plants and people could cope with their rapidly changing world. Amidst the standing dead, she discovered the resiliency of forgotten forests, flourishing again in the wake of destruction, and a diverse community of people who persevered to create new relationships with the emerging environment.

In this wide-ranging and accessible new book, biologist-turned-perfumer Elise Vernon Pearlstine turns our human-centered perception of fragrance on its head and investigates plants' evolutionary reasons for creating aromatic molecules. Delving into themes of spirituality, wealth, power, addiction, royalty, fantasy, and more, Pearlstine uncovers the natural history of aromatic substances and their intersection with human culture and civilization.

The globetrotting naturalists of the 18th century were the geeks of their day: innovators and explorers who lived at the intersection of science and commerce. Foremost among them was Carl Linnaeus, a radical thinker who revolutionized biology. In What Linnaeus Saw, Karen Magnuson Beil chronicles Linnaeus's life and career in readable, relatable prose.

More people today are embracing alternative medicine as treatment for various health issues. One herbal plant that is fast gaining acceptance is cannabis. A once-controversial drug, cannabis has been shown in research to be highly beneficial in aiding different types of illnesses. What's more, laws against using and selling it have relaxed over the years in different countries. If you're curious about the cannabis plant, all its basic facts including its history, how it's legally cultivated, and its various medical benefits, then this audiobook is for you.

Are humans unwitting partners in evolution with psychedelic plants? Darwin’s Pharmacy shows they are by weaving the evolutionary theory of sexual selection and the study of rhetoric together with the science and literature of psychedelic drugs. Long suppressed as components of the human tool kit, psychedelic plants can be usefully modeled as “eloquence adjuncts” that intensify a crucial component of sexual selection in humans: discourse.

Collections of preserved plant specimens, known as herbaria, have existed for nearly five centuries. These pressed and labeled plants have been essential resources for scientists, allowing them to describe and differentiate species and to document and research plant changes and biodiversity over time—including changes related to climate. Maura C. Flannery tells the history of herbaria, from the earliest collections belonging to such advocates of the technique as sixteenth-century botanist Luca Ghini, to the collections of poets, politicians, and painters, and to the digitization today.

As Thomas Hatsis reveals, the discovery of the power of psychedelics and entheogens can be traced to the very first prehistoric expressions of human creativity, with a continuing lineage of psychedelic mystery traditions from antiquity through the Renaissance to the Victorian era and beyond. Describing how, when, and why different peoples in the Western world utilized sacred psychedelic plants, Hatsis examines the full range of magical and spiritual practices that include the ingestion of substances to achieve altered states.

If you feel like you’ve “missed the boat” on the wonders of this healing and teaching plant medicine, think again. Now more than ever, people are taking self-development seriously and want to dive deeper into discovering who they truly are. This audiobook will give you plenty of information you can use immediately to begin your pursuit of this ancient medicine. So even if you’ve been unable to get your hands on information thus far, this book will give you the straight facts on ayahuasca without any of the hype or noise.

Before there even was modern era medications and its pharmacopoeia of artificial medications, there were medicinal plants. Prehistoric civilizations have widely used them for the strategic treatment of common illnesses as well as life-threatening ailments. More recently, the information about medicinal plants was handed over from one generation to the next.

Columbus forever changed America the moment he discovered it. Because along with his discovery are the new species of plants and animals that would be introduced to the natives. Also, there were diseases that were felt by the natives for the first time. This book focuses on the many changes that came with Columbus’ discovery. Hear about them today.

When Dr. David Hosack tilled the country's first botanical garden in the Manhattan soil more than 200 years ago, he didn't just dramatically alter the New York landscape; he left a monumental legacy of advocacy for public health and wide-ranging support for the sciences. In melodic prose, historian Victoria Johnson eloquently chronicles Hosack's tireless career to reveal the breadth of his impact. The result is a lush portrait of the man who gave voice to a new, deeply American understanding of the powers and perils of nature.

Many consider "The Canterville Ghost" the most famous ghost story of all time. It is a parody featuring a dramatic spirit named Sir Simon and an American ambassador named Mr. Hiram B. Otis. Mr. Otis travels to England with his family and moves into a haunted castle. Lord Canterville, the previous owner of the castle, warns Mr. Otis that the ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville has haunted the castle ever since he killed his wife, Eleonore, centuries ago.

In seinem Portrait "Tannen" erzählt Wilhelm Bode die überraschende Kulturgeschichte der Tanne, des vermeintlich bekanntesten Baums, und zeichnet die folgenreiche Verdrängung der Tannen aus unseren Bergmischwäldern nach: In der Romantik zum Weltenbaum überhöht und von der industriellen Forstwirtschaft durch die Fichte verdrängt, ist die Tanne heute zum Hoffnungsbaum geworden, denn sie erträgt trockene Sommer in ihrem natürlichen Mehrgenerationenhaus eines Laubmischwaldes gut.

On January 25, 1862, naturalist Charles Darwin received a box of orchids. One flower, the Madagascar star orchid, fascinated him. It had an 11.5-inch nectary, the place where flowers make nectar, the sweet liquid that insects and birds eat. How, he wondered, did insects pollinate the orchid? It took 130 years to find the answer.

For most of 2020, Mikes Dilger’s day-job of travelling to the four corners of the British Isles all but disappeared. Having been confined to one place by the Covid pandemic, and with daily dog walks his sole permitted outdoor pursuit, the simple pleasure of getting to know the flowers at his feet reignited a long-buried botanical passion. Now Mike is on a mission: to see a thousand different wild plants in one calendar year, and assess how our fascinating flora is faring in modern Britain.

Why is ancient medicine the best medicine? Simply because it's been around for so long. Most drugs that your doctor will prescribe are produced in a lab and sold by large drug companies. Of course, these drugs have their place and do save some a lot of people from death or chronic illness. However, what is concerning is that so many ailments can be healed and so many symptoms can be eased by merely checking out what is already in your spice cabinet.

The smooth faces of boy soldiers stand out in Civil War photography. Yet until now, scholars have largely overlooked the masses of underaged youths who served as musicians, carried wounded from the field, ran messages, took up arms, and died in both the Union and Confederate armies. Of Age is the first comprehensive study of how Americans responded to the unauthorized enlistment of minors in this conflict and the implications that followed.

Freedom and equality are the watchwords of American democracy. But like justice, freedom and equality are meaningless when there is no corresponding practical application of the ideals they represent. Physical, bodily liberty is fundamental to every American’s personal sovereignty. And yet, millions of Americans—including author Deborah Plant’s brother, whose life sentence at Angola Prison reveals a shocking current parallel to her academic work on the history of slavery in America—are deprived of these basic freedoms every day.