New Uses For Old Plants

Plants continue to play and important role in our lives. Modern science is finding new solutions to problems by closely examining the plant kingdom. These new discoveries make us realize how much we depend on nature, despite all of our technological advances. Below are three examples of new discoveries found in age-old plants.

The AUSTRALIAN CHESTNUT THREE (Castanospermum australe) may be the source of an anti - AIDS drug. The National Cancer Institution is investigating an extract from the tree's seed. Laboratory tests show that the chemical, castanospermine, prevents AIDS virus from killing healthy cells. Tests have also proven this tree to be and attractive, low maintenance houseplant. So this exotic tree may one day be a well - recognized plant.

Experiments being done by the USDA on the desert plant, LESQUERELLA, are gaining attention. Seed oil extract can be made into a new type of plastic, which is tougher than most on the market today.

Development of lesquerella could bring desert regions of the country to new agricultural importance.

The seed of the NEEM TREE (Azadirachta inica) produces an extract which is deadly to over sixty insects that attack crops. Tests have shown this extract to be so powerful as to repel feeding locust. Identifying useful, sage and effective ways of keeping pests in check is an important challenge for modern agriculture. A Wisconsin company has patented a neem - based pesticide and will begin selling it in the near future.

Scientists have studied only a tiny fraction of the plants on this earth. With new discoveries occurring so frequently, we may see science lead us into a second Green Revolution even greater than the one seen by the last generation.

In 1985, Briscoe White opened The Growers Exchange in an abandoned Texaco station on a busy urban street corner in Richmond, Virginia. The facility has grown over the years, and is now 5 distinct growing environments with 5 acres under cover.