Press Release
The Healing Power of Plants Flexes Its Muscle at The Wildlife Experience
Contacts: Amber DeBerry - (720) 488-3303
Keith Carlson - (720) 488-3331
DENVER—March 1, 2006—Have you ever wondered where the active ingredients in many prescription and over-the-counter drugs originate? The Wildlife Experience presents The Healing Power of Plants, a photography exhibit that sheds some light on the medicinal properties of a variety of plants and ancient traditions centered on them.
When we reach into the medicine chest to relieve a headache, cold, or some other ailment, it usually does not occur to us that we may be reaching for a plant. Throughout history plants have played a significant role in treating disease. Even today, one quarter of all prescription drugs are likely to contain ingredients derived from plants.
Despite advances in modern medicine, rich traditions of herbal medicine have continued in many parts of the world. Over eighty percent of the world’s population still depends on local remedies made almost exclusively from plants. In the past few decades a resurgence of interest in botanical medicine has occurred in the United States.
But, as civilizations encroach on natural habitats, many valuable medicinal plants along with the cultures that understand them are disappearing. Practitioner stories and Western medicine’s use of plants and plant derivatives to treat common ailments provide illuminating perspectives, accompanied by a discussion on dissipating the impact of accelerating encroachment upon the habitats of these often small flora populations.
Through photographs of a wide variety of plants and accompanying informational panels, The Healing Power of Plants covers areas of interest such as herbs for common ailments, drugs derived from plants, knowledge of local medicinal plants, healing traditions, conservation, and loss of cultural knowledge.
The Healing Power of Plants, a traveling exhibit developed by the University of
Colorado Museum of Natural History, will be on display at The Wildlife Experience April 8 through September 10.
For more information on The Healing Power of Plants and The Wildlife Experience, visit thewildlifeexperience.org or call (720) 488-3300.
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