Peruvian Amazon and Andes Botanical Tour Set for 2009

December 4th, 2008

Peruvian Amazon and Andes Botanical Medicine Tour for 2009.
Once again, along with Rosemary Gladstar and Mindy Green, I will be leading the American Botanical Council (ABC) and Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research (ACEER) trip to the Peruvian Amazon along the Madre de Dios and Andes, with the literal high point being Machu Picchu. Two nonprofit educational organizations, ABC and ACEER, are planning announced 2009 annual Botanical Medicines from the Amazon and the Andes workshop tour. The 2009 trip will take place October 1-10, 2009, in various locations in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest and the Andes mountains, including the famous, ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu. Continuing education credit is available for certain healthcare providers.

Amazon activities will focus on the edible and medicinal plants of the Peruvian Amazon, including visits to markets where local herbs are sold, explorations of the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica , the Useful Plants Trail, and the Garden of Medicinal Plants. A highpoint of the Amazon portion of the trip includes traversing the Inkaterra Canopy Walkway that soars 100 feet above the forest floor, allowing people to view plants and animals that dwell in the upper treetop canopy.

Andean activities include a workshop by a traditional Incan shaman in the sacred Urubamba Valley, and the inspiring “lost” mountaintop ruins of Machu Picchu. Each stop of this trip will focus on the native ethnobotany of the area and ways the indigenous Inca people traditionally used and still currently use local medicinal plants.

Tour leaders include internationally-known author, photographer and lecturer, Steven Foster; herbal guru Rosemary Gladstar, and expert aromatherapist and author, Mindy Green.
“We are incredibly passionate about helping people live healthier lives worldwide through the responsible and sustainable use of herbs and medicinal plants,” emphasized Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of the ABC.

“For twenty years, the American Botanical Council has dedicated itself to providing accurate and reliable information and education about the use of herbs and medicinal plants,” added Blumenthal. “Onsite educational programs such as our Amazon and Andes Ethnobotany Ecotour provide compelling information through applied education and a hands-on opportunity to immerse oneself in the actual environment with leading herbal and environmental experts. It is often a life-changing experience!”

ABC and ACEER Foundation have been co-sponsoring and conducting continuing education-accredited ethnobotany ecotours to the Peruvian Amazon and Andes regions since 1994. They have also co-sponsored continuing education tours to Belize, Costa Rica, Kenya and South Africa as part of ABC’s core mission to provide education using science-based and traditional information to promote the responsible use of herbal medicine.

“This will be a fabulous trip, particularly the amazing Andean city of Machu Picchu,” said veteran ethnobotanical expert and tourleader Steven Foster. “The greatest culture shock I’ve ever experienced is going from the primary rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon up to the ancient Inca capital, Cusco, on the way to Machu Picchu.

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New Book: Herbal Pearls!

July 16th, 2008

Hidden within the great treasure house of Traditional Chinese Medicine are many gems of folk wisdom. One form is oral folk tales, word-of-mouth explanations of plant names and how a plant came to be used as a drug. Was it chance discovery? Intervention by immortal beings? Observation of diseased animals eating a plant and returning to health?

From 1934 to 1980, Chinese folklorist Miao Wen-wei collected these stories from farmers, peasants, and traditional doctors in China’s central coastal region. This collection of 53 folk tales was first published in Chinese in 1981.

The English language edition of Herbal Peals: Traditional Chinese Folk Wisdom, was translated by Yue Chong-xi and edited by Steven Foster, author of 15 books on herbs including Peterson Field Guides and the National Geographic Desk Reference to Nature’s Medicine.

A pdf description of Herbal Pearls including a sample chapter.

Order Herbal Pearls from Boian Books

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Steven Foster Among 2008 AHPA Awards Recipients

March 13th, 2008

The American Herbal Products Association bestowed its annual awards at it member’s meeting in Anaheim, California, March 13th. Steven Foster was the recipient of an HERBAL INSIGHT award. According to AHPA’s, Director of Communication, Katia Fowler:

“Acclaimed photographer Steven Foster was presented with the Herbal Insight award for furthering the knowledge and understanding of medicinal and aromatic plants through his excellent work as a photographer, author and consultant. Mr. Foster’s ability to capture the elegance and intimacy of the ‘human-plant relationship’ continues to astound.”

Anthony Young, Partner, Kleinfeld, Kaplan & Beckler, was given the Herbal Hero award for his outstanding contributions to AHPA committees and initiatives. The Herbal Industry Leader award given to a company with outstanding business practices went to Sara Katz and Ed Smith of Herb Pharm in Williams, Oregon. The late Dr. Stephen Strauss, the first director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health, was posthumously honored with an Herbal Insight Award.

“For the third year, we have been honored to recognize top-notch representatives of the herbal industry with AHPA Awards,” said Michael McGuffin, the association’s president. “This is a very impressive slate of winners, and AHPA is pleased to know we will have an impressive slate next year. Our awards have only begun to honor the outstanding members of the herbal world.”

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Now offering prints!

September 7th, 2007

We are pleased to offer a variety of prints and related products of herbs, scenics, nature, and other subjects at our new Printroom store front. New galleries going up everyday. Currently we offer prints from our recent Amazon trip, Chinese Medicinal Herbs, dozens of scenics from Montenegro, and a growing number of herb images. You can buy prints directly for your home, gallery, business display, or clinic. Check it out!

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Strawberries in History & Photos

September 5th, 2007

The strawberry that is available commercially and commonly grown in gardens is a hybrid known as Fragaria x annanassa Duchesne (a cross between Fragaria chiloensis and Fragaria virginiana). The former originates from Chile, and the latter, obviously first described from Virginia. In the northeastern U.S. there are two wild species, Fragaria virginiana (easily distinguished by the fact that the seeds are imbedded in the fruit), and Fragaria vesca (the wild European strawberry, but a northern temperate species, whose range includes northeastern N. America). It is easily differentiated from F. virginiana in that F. vesca’s seeds are on the surface of the fruit. See: Foster and Duke A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants: Eastern and Central North America, Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
There’s a compelling story behind the development of the modern strawberry. It was first described in the 1759 edition of Philip Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary (London). This hybrid was further developed in the garden of Antoine Nicolas Duchesne, son of the superintendent of buildings of King Louis XIV, and Louis XV. On July 6, 1764 Antoine Nicolas Duchesne presented a large-fruited strawberry hybrid he produced to King Louis XV. What’s remarkable is Duchesne was only 17 years old at the time. At age 19 he published the modern scientific names and descriptions of the genus Fragaria in L’Historie Naturelle des Fraisiers. His designations and descriptions are still in use today. Duchesne also made important early observations on plant breeding such as the separation of sexes in strawberries, and recorded the first observation of a spontaneous mutation in plants.

The definitive modern work on strawberries is George McMillan Darrow’s The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology. New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston (1966). Fortunately, this rather obscure title has been reprinted in entirety in an on line edition from the National Agricultural Library.

See our strawberry images at the following links:

Fragaria x annanassa

Fragaria vesca

Fragaria virginiana

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Stock Photographs

May 17th, 2007

Our main business is licensing stock photos from our collections of over 150,000 images of medicinal and aromatic plants, herbs, wildflowers and other botanicals from every continent except Antarctica. All images are “rights protected” rather than “royalty free.” Licensing of stock photos is usually on a one-time, non-exclusive basis per image. Licensing fees depend upon the type of use, such as web, print, editorial or commerical; size of use and/or frequency of use. Other factors may also apply. Licensing fees may be as little as $50.00 for a minor use or up to $10,000 for major ad placement. New images go up at our Flash Galleries everyday. Click on “Photography” at our home page, and go to the links under “Scientific Names” of plants to view images. Remember to clean your browser cache when you come back for a return visit. For example yesterday you may have seen three images of the Apothecary Rose, Rosa gallica. Today we have 25 new images up at the same gallery. You can see the new Apothecary Rose images shot on 16-17 May at Roses. Enjoy! And if we can help you, we would be happy to preview images.

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Foster’s Book Among “Best of Reference”

April 27th, 2007

On April 27, 2007, The New York Public Library named A Desk Reference to Nature’s Medicine by Steven Foster and Rebecca Johnson among the best reference works for 2007. According to the New York Public Library:

“Best of Reference is an annual list of books, websites, and electronic resources selected by a committee of librarians for their usefulness in branch references collections. Selection criteria include value and appropriateness of material, style of presentation, and authority of authors and editors.”

This year’s announcement of the distinguished list of references was held on 27 April at the NYPL’s Donnell Library Center in midtown Manhattan. See the New York Public Library’s website for more information.

It states: “More than the familiar guide to herbal remedies, this is illustrated with botanical drawings and color photographs. It gives the cultural, historical, and scientific background of hundreds of plants used for healing by people the world over. ”

Here’s information on the book:

Desk Reference to Nature’s Medicine. By Steven Foster and Rebecca L. Johnson. 2006. National Geographic, Washington, D.C.Hardcover. 416 pp. 200 photographs, 150 botanical drawings and 159 maps. ISBN: 0-7922-3666-1. $40.00. Order at your favorite independent book store, Amazon.com, or via the National Geographic Society’s website.

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Meet Montenegro Adventures

December 18th, 2006

Do you wish to see some of the most beautiful water in the world including rivers, waterfalls, springs, and the Adriatic Sea itself? Do you wish to hike up a thousand-year-old wall, teaming with Mediterranean herbs, surrounding a medieval city protected as a World Heritage Site? Do you wish to travel with experienced photographers to hone your technique in some of the most beautiful scenery in the world? How about an herbal/photography tour of Mediterranean and continental herbs of Montenegro, the world’s newest independent country? Then get to know Montenegro Adventures, developed as a private venture through the Centre for Sustainable Tourism Initiatives with support from CHF International and USAID. It’s in the works—development of an herbal and botanical tour of Montenegro organized with the help of the experienced, professional and dedicated staff of Montenegro Adventures (see: www.montenegro-adventures.com or www.montenegroadventures.com). Visit the site often as the staff is constantly updating information on available tours and adventures, be it for a single individual, specialized group of 8-20 people, or larger cultural excursions, as available. For 2007, I will be working with them to develop a botanical tour for originating in the U.S. Stayed tuned to this blog for up-coming links, information, and details.

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Gentiana lutea in Montenegro

December 17th, 2006

The calcareous soils of the high mountain glades and plateaus of Montenegro is the home of yellow gentian Gentiana lutea spp. simphyandra, the root of which has long been valued as a bitter tonic. Gentiana lutea is one important medicinal plant that has become threatened in Montenegro and throughout its range in mountainous regions of Europe due relative scarcity to over-harvest. The export of the root is now banned from Montenegro. Now former traders in gentian root are keenly interested in its conservation. When traveling in mountain villages and among seasonal shepherds, they stop and ask that when cutting hay, mostly done with a scythe in the traditional way, that the flowering gentian plants not be cut, so that they may produce seed. Attention to simple conservation measures, such as this has resulted in an increase in gentian, where it had once disappeared. Veselin Vucinic is the “King of Gentian” in Montenegro due to his conservation efforts. (See 14 December 2006 blog below, “A Visit with Veselin Vucinic”). That’s Veselin in the picture above, and his daughter, Ms. Gordana Vucinic, with a group of Gentian in the photo below.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Bilberries in Montenegro

December 16th, 2006

Each year in northeastern Montenegro in Plav, a beautiful mountain city located on the shores of Plav, lake the annual Blueberry Festival is held, celebrating the harvest season of this native wild fruit. “Blueberry” as it’s known locally in Montenegro is Vaccinium myrtillus traded in world markets under the common name “bilberry.” A small shrub with sweet black berries, it grows in heaths and woods of northern Europe and mountains of southern and central Europe. An ancient food plant of Europe, bilberry emerged as a medicinal herb in the twelfth century, mentioned by the German Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, and later in the sixteenth century herbal of Hieronymus Bock, who gave extensive detail of the plant’s medicinal properties. During the Second World War, pilots in the British Royal Air Force reported improved night vision after eating bilberry jam. In the 1960s, these reports led Italian and French scientists to research the berries for their effects on vision problems. Bilberry fruits (dried, powdered, and extracts) are sold in the form of dietary supplements in the United States, perceived useful for increasing venous circulation, particularly to the eyes, thus benefiting eyesight. In Germany it is an approved phytomedicine for the treatment of nonspecific acute diarrhea and as a local therapy for mild inflammation of the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat. Preparations of bilberry fruit are used to enhance poor microcirculation, thus improving eye conditions such as night blindness and diabetic retinopathy. Pigments called anthocyanosides help regenerate a pigment in the retina that is essential for the eye to adapt to light. The dried leaves are also used as a beverage tea ingredient and have been the subject of research, particularly in Italy, for potential antidiabetic activity. The fruits are also known for strong antioxidant activity due to anthocyanins in the fruit, which help to strengthen and protect blood capillaries and stimulate the formation of new ones. Bilberry jam and juice products are widely available in markets in Montenegro.

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Peruvian Amazon and Andes Botanical Tour Set for 2009

New Book: Herbal Pearls!

Steven Foster Among 2008 AHPA Awards Recipients

Now offering prints!

Strawberries in History & Photos

Stock Photographs

Foster’s Book Among “Best of Reference”

Meet Montenegro Adventures

Gentiana lutea in Montenegro

Bilberries in Montenegro