Questions

Frontier Chemistry Project Questions

Justify the importance of identifying a plant/root correctly.

Obviously there is a large chance that certain plants can be poisonous and it would be terrible to ingest or rub a poisonous plant onto you skin. Also, some plants do certain things such as increasing blood flow and if you had a large cut and accidentally ate a plant that increases blood flow you could increase your chances of bleeding out depending on how bad the wound is.

Why would it be prudent to know a variety of species from other regions when dealing with natural medicines and food?

Not all the same plants grow everywhere. There are a plethora of different species of plants in different regions. Also, theoretically speaking, you could potentially be in a different  region when you are injured or in need of a medicinal herb. In that instance, it wouldn’t be very effective if you only knew one region of plant species.

Would it make a significant difference if you were traveling in different seasons? Why or why not?

Absolutely. There are many different plants that bloom during certain parts of the year and it would be very hard to distinguish a plant that is just green and doesn’t have its “trademark” flower blooming. Also, some chemical compounds aren’t present in the plants during certain seasons since the amount of sunlight that reaches the plants differ from season to season. Which could completely change the capabilities of the plant as a medicinal herb and not allow the plant to do what it normally can.

As a scientist, why would it be significant to develop a relationship with local peoples about their plan habitat?

A lot of the time, the locals are able to know what exactly a certain plant can do. It would be hard as a scientist to go to foreign land and distinguish foreign plants as medicinal or not. The local peoples would be able to give a large amount of information of what the plants can do, which ones are safe, and how to utilize the certain plants correctly. This is incredibly relevant because once again, not all the plants that grow around the world are the same.

If you were found without traditional medicines, would you trust your (or a reference text) knowledge of local flora to treat an illness or disease? Why or why not?

Personally, I wouldn’t be able to identify much without a reference sheet but if I had one handy it would be very useful. I would trust the herbs because a lot of the supplements and medicines contain the same active ingredients that are already naturally present in the herbs. Also, knowing that there is a large population that still uses medicinal herbs to cure some of their ailments makes me feel more comfortable knowing that the plants will do certain things to help me and not kill me.