Curated playlist
Medicinal plants of Asia
- Black pepperBlack pepper was found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II. It was placed there during his mummification rituals.
- CardamomOne German coffee planter helped make Guatemala the top cardamom grower. He brought the plant there before World War I.
- CuminAncient Greeks kept cumin at the table in its own container, like pepper today. The habit still survives in Morocco.
- ChickpeaChickpeas were already being grown roughly ten thousand years ago. The oldest evidence comes from Syria.
- Common wheatTall wheat given heavy chemical fertilizer collapsed under its own grain. Norman Borlaug's dwarfing genes fixed it.
- AsparagusAsparagus can make urine smell within 15 to 30 minutes of a meal. The cause is sulfur compounds from asparagusic acid.
- BasilA pot of basil in a Boccaccio tale led to a Keats poem and two paintings. The herb's name means royal plant in Greek.
- Hyoscyamus nigerHenbane's medieval name meant roughly "thing that causes death", yet people sought it out.
- Areca nutThe areca nut is chewed by around 600 million people, mainly of South and Southeast Asian origin. It leaves red stains on pavements from South Asia to the northern Philippines. This seed of a tropical palm, also called betel nut, acts as a…
- Juglans regiaWitches were said to gather at a walnut tree in Benevento, Italy. A judge wrote about them in 1526.
- Atropa bella-donnaAtropa bella-donna, better known as deadly nightshade, put one adult woman into severe poisoning in 2009 after she mistook its berries for blueberries. She ate six. Doctors documented the result as a severe anticholinergic syndrome, a…