Ingham’s W RLD
EVERY year, from the jungles of Borneo to the mountains of Bhutan, 2,000 new species of plant are discovered. Normally it takes hard work and a keen eye on the part of intrepid botanists making expeditions to the remotest corners of the world. But one new plant, a 5ft-tall insect-eating sundew, was discovered on Facebook. It was found in Brazil by an orchid grower who put pictures on social media where a botanist realised it was new to science.
Every new discovery offers mankind hope. Of the 391,000 known plant species, at least 17,810 have a medicinal use, says the first State Of The World’s Plants report by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
They offer cures or treatments for just about every ailment, from colds to cancer.
Last year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded for the discovery in sweet wormwood of the malaria treatment artemisinin by Chinese researcher Tu Youyou.
She found the life-saver after trying a 1,600-year-old recipe used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat fevers.
Professor Monique Simmonds, head of Kew’s Sustainable Uses group, says scientists are increasingly checking the ancient uses of plants to see whether they really do have healing powers.
The medicinal treasure trove includes snowdrops which contain galantamine which is used to slow down Alzheimer’s.
Capsicum – found in peppers and chillis – is a useful anti-inflammatory against arthritis.
Star anise, an evergreen tree from China, tends to be used here as a spice but in traditional Chinese medicine it has long helped to ease colds and flu.
The Madagascar periwinkle contains vincristine, which is widely used in chemotherapy to treat cancers including leukaemia.
In your own back yard you may have plantain which was used by the Anglo-Saxons to treat bee stings while fields near my house have plenty of St John’s Wort which was applied by the Knights of St John to stop wounded crusaders from bleeding. And the young leaves of yew contain a chemical used in chemotherapy to put cancer to the sword.
But Monique says some plants are so commonplace that their properties are unlikely ever to be developed into drugs.
Garlic can provide antibiotics or help soothe colds but because it has been known about for centuries it would be very difficult for a drug company to file a patent to protect its investment.
So those 2,000 new, patentable species being discovered every year could help save us all. BIRDS are shrinking due to climate change. Small waders breeding in the Arctic are arriving too late for the peak “bloom” of insect numbers, says Science, as the ice is melting two weeks earlier than 30 years ago. So the underfed red knot chicks are developing smaller beaks. On their African wintering grounds they cannot reach the best molluscs buried in beaches – and their survival rates are down. MAN’S best friend is getting a raw deal, says vets charity PDSA. Five million dogs, cats and rabbits are at risk of killer diseases because their owners have never had them vaccinated. And seven million have not had boosters. They’re part of the family. They need protecting. GREEN TIP: Soothe insect bites with peppermint oil. GREEN energy has an image problem. A survey for low-cost renewable energy provider Bulb found that 54 per cent of us are either hostile to it or see it as a luxury. But 71 per cent then said they would switch to renewables if it saved them money. That’s how to save the planet – make it save people money. TALKING of wind farms, one bone of contention could be eased, says reader Richard Mather.
I mentioned last week that the US government is willing to tolerate 6,000 eagles a year being killed by turbine blades. Richard says playing a bird’s warning call – generated by wind – could cut the carnage. It might work in remoter areas well away from neighbours.