Plants of the Gods: S2E3. Palms: The Sacred Princes of the Plant Kingdom
08/04/21 • 24 min
Palms- The Sacred Princes of the Plant Kingdom - In the words of the late ethnobotanist Richard Schultes, “A panorama does not seem tropical unless palms occupy a distinct and conspicuously visible part of the flora.” Although primarily associated with lowland rainforests, palms range as far north as Scotland and as high as 10,000 feet in the Andes. Furthermore, palms are considered sacred by many if not most of the world’s religions.
Palms- The Sacred Princes of the Plant Kingdom - In the words of the late ethnobotanist Richard Schultes, “A panorama does not seem tropical unless palms occupy a distinct and conspicuously visible part of the flora.” Although primarily associated with lowland rainforests, palms range as far north as Scotland and as high as 10,000 feet in the Andes. Furthermore, palms are considered sacred by many if not most of the world’s religions.
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Plants of the Gods: S2E2. Hemp: The Fiber That Binds America
Hemp—a fiber of the Cannabis plant—has played an outsized role in world history. It was not only one of the first crops cultivated by our species, but also one of the crops planted by the first Europeans who landed in the eastern US. The Pilgrims grew it, as did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The foundational documents of American democracy, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, were initially drafted on hemp paper. Hemp fiber played a role in the rise of the American military and the Allies’ subsequent victory in WWII. This episode tells that story—and more.
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Plants of the Gods: S2E4. Magic Mushrooms and the Roots (actually, the Mycelia) of the Psychedelic Renaissance
The much-heralded Psychedelic Renaissance began in 1938 when Harvard graduate student Richard Schultes traveled to southern Mexico to investigate reports that the Mazatec peoples were ingesting mind-altering mushrooms for healing and divinatory purposes. His findings led to further research in both the field and the lab by folks like Gordon Wasson and Albert Hofmann, and this in turn eventually brought the healing potential of these and other mind-altering natural substances to the outside world.
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