What’s the correlation (or is it still relevant) of ethnobotany to our modern day endeavors (as we are on the era of fast phased technology)?

Question

What’s the correlation (or is it still relevant) of ethnobotany to our modern day endeavors (as we are on the era of fast phased technology)?

Answer 1

Hi Aisha Maley C.,

It's true that medicines are increasingly being made by reverse-engineering from structurally characterized receptor sites. However, plants (and other kingdoms) still have plenty of undiscovered compounds with pharmacological activity. After all, the plants developed them either to deter predators, compete with other organisms or (rarely) to dispose of waste. We just happen to be such an "other organism" (or perhaps our microbiome is!). And nature is adept at generating chemical structures of amazing complexity (look up "maitotoxin", for example).

-- Cheers, -- Mr. d.