As a horticulturist, Kari has been interested and researched the benefits of lesser known plants on the way our bodies are able to protect themselves from disease, feel younger, and stay health.
"From the tropics and deserts to arctic regions, indigenous tribes
have relied on plants and their remarkable chemistry to treat and
prevent illness, and to help protect and increase their own natural
beauty. But how do they identify which plants are useful as medicine or
beauty aids? In our ethnobotanical studies with traditional healers
around the world, we have found that the sources of discovery are often
hidden in the mists of time. Some scientists believe that through trial
and error, indigenous peoples who have been resident for generations in a
single area, have learned which plants are useful and which are not.
Sometimes indigenous peoples tell us that the uses of the plants were
revealed in dreams, or by their ancestors. Regardless of how plant uses
were originally discovered, when specific plants are used for generation
after generation, their accumulated knowledge begins to approach the
results of thousands of human clinical trials and years of market
research.
As more people seek environmentally friendly and safer ways of making
themselves feel better about the way they look, they are turning to
plant-based beauty products; many of the ingredients in these products
are based on centuries-old knowledge of traditional cultures. Our
vision, as ethnobotanists, is to ensure that companies share the
benefits from these discoveries and products with the indigenous peoples
who have developed them."
