Subject: Medical plants/botany
From: [email-masked]
Date: 2 Jul 1994 15:19:25 GMT
Newsgroups: bionet.plants

Hi, I am an anaesthetist with an interest in Medical plants
& botany. Can anyone tell me whether there is a more specific 
usenet group which covers this area??
I maintain a MEDICAL garden at my hospital, which I think is
the only hospital-based medical/medicinal garden in the UK, and
I would be keen to hear from other people with a similar
interest. It would be nice to get a group established on the 
internet with this interest.
I have to say that we are concentrating on plants which are 
ACTUALLY used/related todrugs used in western medicine, 
and NOT the fringe Herbal (ie not established scientifically)
end of the market. Sorry herbalists & homeopaths!
For example, we grow Digitalis lanata since all the digoxin
we inject into our patients actually comes from this plant
(usually grown in Holland).
Thus I am interested in establishing a list of such plants
and specifically how to grow them - this info is often
not easily (if at all) available! 
For example, I would like to grow some of the CURARE plants
(eg chondrodendron tormentosum) since we have curare in
the cupboard for use in anaesthesia, but who knows
anything about how to grow it (and where to get some 
specimens)
I know it grown nicely in South America, but has anybody
got any cuttings I can have???

Best wishes,
Dick Nickalls
Dept Anaesthesia,
City Hospital,
Nottingham, UK
email: [email-masked]
email:[email-masked]
Fax: +44-(0)602-627713
Tel (office) +44-(0)602-709229
-----------------------------------