Neolithic Finns chewed birch bark tar for fresh breath, clean teeth.
East meets West
Big Pharma looks to Chinese medicine.
Opiate supply and demand
Solanaceous information
There’s a global online monograph of the genus Solanum called Solanaceae Source. Each species treatment includes illustrations, a clickable list of specimens, links to molecular data and a dot distribution map (which mashes herbarium specimen locality data with Google Maps), among other things. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds the project as part of the Planetary Biodiversity Inventories mission. Collaborators are eligible for small awards in support of their contributions to the completion of the worldwide Solanum monograph.
The galactagogous flicker
So I’ve learnt a new word today: galactagogue, a substance that induces lactation. I came across it in the title of a paper ((Steve Froemming. Traditional use of the Andean flicker (Colaptes rupicola) as a galactagogue in the Peruvian Andes. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2006, 2:23)) in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, which seems to be admirably open access. The substance in question is the dried carcass of a bird called the Andean Flicker:
The bird’s use as a galactagogue appears to be motivated by both metaphorical associations and its perceived efficacy, and conceptually blends human and animal healthcare domains.
It’s really fascinating stuff. The paper has a list of Andean galactagogues, which includes many preparations derived from crops. Various wild plants and herbs are also used in this way in Europe, and some of the Andean remedies are likely to have been introduced in the 16th century, while others are native to the region. The flicker seems to be a pre-Colombian practice.