Pictures of the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park

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The San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. All photos.

Plants have long been used by humans for treating a wide range of ills from childhood leukemia to hangovers. Indeed, many of the pharmaceuticals currently available to Western doctors have a long history of use as herbal remedies including quinine, opium, aspirin, and coca.

The use of plants for medicinal purposes is especially prevalent among indigenous peoples -- the people of Southeast Asian forests used 6,500 species, while Northwest Amazonian forest dwellers used 1300 species for medicinal purposes. Today the relationship between plants and people is increasingly being explored by pharmacologists in the development of new drugs. Ethnobotanists, the scientists who study these traditional uses of plants, are working with native healers and shamans in identifying prospects for drug development. The yield from these efforts can be quite good -- a study in Samoa found that 86% of the plants used by local healers yielded biological activity in humans -- and the potential from such collaboration is huge with approximately one half of the anti-cancer drugs developed since the 1960s having been derived from plants. continued...

Canivorous plants | Orchids and plants | Highlights | More photos

outside conservatory outside conservatory Costus malortieanus Cyrtostachys renda Tropical research display palm flowers Cyrtostachys renda Salacca wallichiana-Salak A highland forest room highland forest room highland forest room mosses epiphytes epiphyte mosses bromeliads pitcher plant pitcher plant pitcher plant highland forest room highland forest room highland forest room highland forest room highland forest room highland forest room red bromeliad flower fern epiphyte Aechmea fendleri flowers Aechmea fendleri flowering Aechmea fendleri in flower Aechmea fendleri Nepenthes pitcher plant white and maroon orchid white and purple orchid Nepenthes pitcher plant Nepenthes pitcher plant Victoria amazonica aquatic plants room Nepenthes pitcher plant red bromeliad red leaved bromeliad red leaved bromeliad bromeliad veined leaves bromeliad veined leaves flowers aquatic plants room red and yellow bromeliad flower pink bromeliad flower pink and green bromeliad red yellow brachts red and yellow bromeliad Victoria cruziana water lily lavender flower Nepenthes pitcher plant aquatic plants room Nepenthes with orchid in foreground corkscrew flower water lily pond Victoria amazonica Victoria water lily aquatic plants room aquatic plants room aquatic plants room aquatic plants room aquatic plants room orange stems potted plants room Madagascar palm-Pachypodium lamerei Madagascar palm-Pachypodium lamerei Madagascar palm-Pachypodium lamerei Madagascar palm-Pachypodium lamerei white and lavender orchid exhibit-Africa exhibit-Africa exhibit-medicinal use of plants exhibit-opium exhibit-South America exhibit-malaria exhibit-medicines exhibit-medicines exhibit-medicinal plants white orchids giant orange hibiscus giant orange hibiscus giant orange hibiscus lavender orchids lavender orchids Tacca chantrieri-Bat flower red flower green coffee beans on Coffea arabica bush banana pod banana flower outside conservatory The San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Canivorous plants | Orchids and plants | Highlights | More photos