Medicinal

Plants
and the
Legacy of
Richard E.
Schultes

Bruce E. Ponman and Rainer W. Bussmann, Editors

Copyright © 2012
The William L. Brown Center
at the Missouri Botanical Garden
P.O. Box 299
St. Louis, MO 63166-0299
USA

Impreso en GRAFICART SRL

San Martín 375 - Trujillo, Perú

ISBN-10: 0984841520
ISBN-13: 978-0-9848415-2-3

Hecho el Depósito Legal en la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú N° 2012-07285

Primera edición, Trujillo, Perú, mayo del 2012

Impreso en Perú
Printed in the Peru

Front cover photo by Richard E. Schultes.

Back cover image: Painting of R.E. Schultes in the Nash Laboratory, by Hannah Barrett.
Courtesy of Harvard University Herbaria.
 REFLECTIONS ON THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF RICHARD EVANS SCHULTES 3

Reflections on Richard Evans Schultes, the Society for Economic Botany,

and the Trajectory of Ethnobotanical Research

Michael J. Balick1,2

The life and work of Richard Evans Schultes—teacher, mentor and friend—resulted in a most ex-
traordinary legacy that impacted an entire academic discipline as well as the tropical rainforest, where
he spent so much of his time. His life and times have been brilliantly chronicled by Wade Davis in
the biography One River: Exploration and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest (1997). At this, the tenth
anniversary of his passing in 2001, we celebrate, with this symposium, his life and academic contribu-
tions. Professor Schultes, as his students always called him with such great reverence, was a founder of
The Society for Economic Botany in 1959 and edited our journal for 18 years, from 1962–1979. His
multidisciplinary scientific research program began in 1936 with that well-known trip to Oklahoma
and lasted far beyond his retirement from Harvard in 1985. Professor Schultes’ mentorship of dozens
of Ph.D. students during his career at Harvard, combined with his teaching, lecturing, and inspiration
of tens of thousands of students throughout his long and distinguished career, did much to influence
the trajectory of ethnobotany and economic botany. His academic philosophy and values were heavily
influenced by his mentor, Oakes Ames. These values are deeply infused in the lives and professional
activities of his numerous students, as can be seen from the presentations in this symposium.

A few weeks after returning to the United the highest quality specimens, year around, in
States from nearly a year of studies in the botany classes at the University.
Costa Rican rainforest, I packed my bags Finally, at the top of the stairs, I knocked soft-
once again and drove to Cambridge, Mas- ly, and with a great degree of timidity, on the
sachusetts. My purpose in traveling was to Professor’s massive steel door. He was seated
begin graduate studies at Harvard University, behind a pile of herbarium specimens collected
under the guidance of Professor Richard Ev- from the Colombian Amazon, outfitted in grey
ans Schultes. On my first visit to meet him, I flannel slacks, red suspenders, starched white
climbed up the wrought iron staircase of the shirt and a white laboratory coat. I was to learn
Botanical Museum where he had his labora- that this was his uniform in Cambridge, as much
tory, and marveled at the collection of glass as his pith helmet, khaki pants, and khaki shirt
flowers, carefully exhibited and curated un- were his uniform in the Amazon. He greeted me
der the watchful eye of my future mentor. with a fatherly smile and began to listen to my
This collection of exacting copies of plants stories of life in the tropics, as he would do over
was produced by Leopold Blaschka and his the next two and a half decades. We exchanged
son, Rudolph, during five decades, and com- notes on our travels, his of nearly half a centu-
prises over 830 species and 3,000 models. ry, mine embryonic by comparison. It was clear
This priceless collection was commissioned from the first meeting that I was in the presence
in 1886 in order that professors could utilize of a most unusual person, a great thinker, and

1
A portion of this manuscript was published in the following obituary of Richard Evans Schultes: M.J. Balick.
2001. In gratitude Richard Evans Schultes 1915–2001. Plant Talk (July):34–35.
2
Director and Philecology Curator of Economic Botany, Institute of Economic Botany, The New York Botanical
Garden, 2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY 10458. Email: [email protected].
4 BALICK

Richard Evans Schultes graduated from Har-

vard with an A.B. (cum laude) in 1937, hav-
ing written an undergraduate thesis on Peyote
(Lophophora williamsii (Lem.) J.M. Coult.) and its
uses (Fig. 1). He undertook extensive fieldwork
in Oaxaca, Mexico as a graduate student, pro-
ducing a two-volume tome, Economic Aspects of
the Flora of Northeastern Oaxaca. He went to the
Amazon to study the indigenous use of curare
(Chondrodendron tomentosum R. & P.) in 1941, sup-
ported by a National Research Council fellow-
ship. At the outbreak of the war, he made his
way from the Amazon, to Bogotá, Colombia,
where he intended to enlist in the U.S. armed
forces, but instead was pressed into the service
of his country, collecting and studying rubber
germplasm, a commodity vital to the war ef-
fort that was in desperately short supply. He
Figure 1. Young Richard Evans Schultes during remained continuously in his beloved Amazon
his fieldwork investigating peyote in Oklahoma. Valley until 1953, when a Harvard administra-
Photo courtesy of R.E. Schultes. tor discovered that he had only taken out a one-
year leave of absence, and it was time to return.
an individual who viewed life as an opportunity He became Curator of the Orchid Herbarium
to carry out the dreams of his early youth—to of Oakes Ames in 1953, Curator of Economic
explore the most remote parts of the Amazon Botany in 1958, Executive Director of the Har-
Valley, as did his hero Richard Spruce, the 19th vard Botanical Museum in 1967, and Director
century English botanist. The Professor told of the Museum in 1970, a position he held until
me that, as a six-year-old child bedridden by ill- his retirement from Harvard in 1985. He re-
ness, he was given a copy of Spruce’s Notes of a ceived many honors from learned societies and
Botanist on the Amazon and Andes. Young Richard governments around the world, too numerous
was enthralled by the tales of the explorer after to name in this brief piece. One of his great-
whom he was to model so much of his life, as est accomplishments, of which he was most
he made his way up the planet’s most remote proud, is his family: his wife Dorothy Craw-
rivers, collecting plants and learning about their ford McNeil whom he married in 1959, and his
ethnobotanical uses along the way. Rarely does children Richard Evans II, and the twins Neil
a person have the chance to fulfill such dreams Parker and Alexandra Ames. He would con-
through a career of exploration, collection, stantly speak about them to all of his students,
teaching and writing, as Richard Evans Schultes passing along the lessons he learned about bal-
did, while at the same time inspiring a genera- ancing family and work. He could read, write,
tion of botanical scientists to carry on his work or speak 10 languages, including two Amazo-
around the world. nian languages, Witoto and Makuna (Fig. 2). He
 REFLECTIONS ON THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF RICHARD EVANS SCHULTES 5

Figure 2. Richard Evans Schultes and

Yukuna and Tanimuka Dancers, Río
Guacayá, Colombia, April 1952. Photo
courtesy of R.E. Schultes.

authored numerous books and many hundreds oped, in preparation for this symposium, I
of scientific papers, for which he was interna- read these letters and realized just how much
tionally acclaimed. Ames had influenced Schultes.
He would always speak warmly of his men- In an early letter to the Harvard undergrad-
tor, the legendary botanist Oakes Ames. Pro- uate, Ames advised Schultes to soak up the
fessor Ames, an economic botanist and spe- classics and poetry, in order to help shape his
cialist in cultivated plants and the taxonomy writing (March 22, 1937):
of the Orchid family, encouraged his student
to pursue a career involving plant explora- My dear Mr. Schultes,
tion. In a wonderfully revealing book, Oakes When I was a student, and that was many
Ames: Jottings of a Harvard Botanist, edited by years ago, Charles Eliot Norton urged us
his daughter Pauline Ames Plimpton, there is read a bit of poetry every day. Indeed, one
an appendix of letters written to friends and of the Boston papers got wind of this ad-
colleagues, including the young student Rich- vice and printed on the first page each day
ard Evans Schultes. In thinking about how his a few lines from the best poets. I am sure
academic values and philosophy were devel- there is much to be gained by reading a little
6 BALICK

from the great classics, and if this is done birth to a single worth-while idea, conceal it.
just before you yourself are about to give (4) Write a cryptic summary…
expression to some thought, the results are
worth the interruption….And don’t let a And as his career progressed, Ames continued
month go by without drinking in the liter- to write Schultes and encourage him to con-
ary charm of Shakespeare, just a page or tinue his work with an attitude of appreciation
two, now and again. This simply means that for humanity (March 30, 1941):
in golf, tennis, billiards, in any other game,
you imitate the strokes of the masters. How Dear Richard,
much more important to enrich your vocab- There are the big biologists and the little
ulary and to learn how to express yourself biologists. Most of the big biologists I have
fluently and well in the language God has known or read about have been inferior
given you by reading the best English. teachers. But they have been so much imbued
with the importance of humanity that they
With my best wishes, remind me of the glowing sparks which rise
Oakes Ames above the dying embers of the fire at night
and seem to be carrying toward heaven a
While thinking about his doctoral dissertation, worthwhile message. The scintillating sparks
which was heavily based on his extensive field rising from a kicked log on the campfire mark
studies in Mexico, Schultes was counseled by the difference between the stolid “standpat-
Ames to emphasize the importance of his ap- ter” and the inspiring leader…
plied work, and the remarkable lessons of na-
ture, as compared to the “basic” laboratory re- A few weeks later, Ames wrote about the
search being carried out by many of his peers importance of ethnobotany in a world that
(March 4, 1940): was globalizing, many decades before the
world became aware of that phenomenon. As
Dear Richard, Western civilization spread across the world,
I desire strongly that you get away from its influence seeping into the most remote
the failings of some of those “Biological reaches of the Amazon, indigenous cultures
Laboratory” lads whose opinions seem to that Schultes loved so much were faced with
worry you. In this regard, study the philoso- striking change, both in the way they lived and
phy of jealously. In my life-time I have read coping with the destruction of the environ-
many Ph.D. theses and I once drew up some ment around them. Schultes’ ultimate reaction
rules to cover the procedure under which to this crisis was to sound the alarm, again
some of these lads write. If you are inter- decades before anyone else had realized what
ested here are a few of them: (1) Find some was happening to the tropics and its peoples
topic devoid of human interest and make (April 19, 1941):
it stupid. (2) Sift out every spark of human
interest and write so badly regarding the Dear Richard,
residue that your ambiguity seems to imply I have presented to you the term ‘treasured
erudition. (3) If you are capable of giving traditions.’ When we pause to think about the
 REFLECTIONS ON THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF RICHARD EVANS SCHULTES 7

influence of a dominating civilization it be- spend as much time in the field as possible,
comes clear that subjugated or submerged much in the same way that Schultes did as a
peoples forego many of the products and student and then throughout his entire ca-
customs treasured through undated time reer—initially in the role of explorer, and
and gradually adopt new ones. This process eventually as teacher, mentor, and advisor
leads to the abandonment and gradual disap- to those seeking to conserve the Amazon
pearance of many products once cherished. region and protect its people.
Unless the ethnobotanist records these while • Basic biological and ethnobotanical inven-
they are as yet waning, there comes a time tory are important activities, more so when
when they are forgotten and take their place combined with hypothesis-driven, applied
among the irrecoverable materials of hu- research questions that address real world
man history. Hence, one of the prime du- issues: Schultes was passionate about the
ties of ethnobotany is to safeguard botanical importance of basic inventory—of biota
knowledge that is on the way out, especially as well as the uses developed by people liv-
botanical knowledge that is integrated with ing in tropical environments. He recognized
human affairs…When Alexander Graham the fragile nature of both the biosphere and
Bell tried to interest my father and his cousin the ethnosphere in the regions where he
F.L. Ames in the telephone, he was told that worked, and encouraged us to document as
his invention had promise as a toy, but that much of both as possible, while at the same
as a practical economic contrivance it had no time shaping our work in a way that allowed
value whatsoever. The crucibles of progress it to address matters of great human con-
are tended by men with vision. If you tend cern—new sources of food, energy, medi-
your crucible with an open mind, with faith cine, fiber, and the many other necessities
in your venture, you may one day find your- of both Western and indigenous culture
self among those who have triumphed. that could be derived from nature and pro-
mote its utility and conservation.
As Ames’ passionate disciple, Schultes drank • Great respect for indigenous people and
in his advice and teachings, executing his work their knowledge of the environment and
with brilliance and precision. His command of its complex interrelationships: His research
the classics, of languages, of history, of phi- on the chemistry of plants used as psycho-
losophy and science provided Schultes with a actives and medicines, the ways in which
perspective held by few in his day or at pres- Amazonian cultures detoxified their food
ent. Following are a few of the many values crops, such as cyanide-rich cassava, and
held by the Professor, that guided the trajec- their overall understanding of how ecosys-
tory of his research and life, both in the field, tems work, convinced Schultes of the so-
classroom, and at home. There are of course phistication of their understanding of the
many more, but I will leave the complete list- plants around them, and their experimen-
ing to others, perhaps as a group effort. talist nature.
• Many important questions in science are
• The wilderness is your classroom and lab- best answered through a multidisciplinary
oratory: As students we were advised to lens: As the result of his broad training,
8 BALICK

Figure 3. Photo of
Richard and Dorothy
Schultes from a Christ-
mas card sent in the
1990’s. Photo courtesy
of R.E. Schultes.

Schultes knew what most of his colleagues ment. His students received suggestions for
at the time failed to realize—that a multi- sources of funding, nominations for mem-
disciplinary approach to certain research bership in prestigious learned societies, sup-
questions, particularly those with an applied port for grant proposals, and anything else
context, would yield much greater results he thought could be helpful in launching or
than addressing the questions from a single sustaining their careers.
perspective, or even a collection of single • Gentlemanliness: In Schultes’ mind, every-
perspectives. Ames had taught Schultes as a one was to be treated with respect, honor,
young scientist to take off his disciplinary and fairness in all manners of conduct and
blinders. manners, or as he called it, the characteristic
• A personal commitment to lifelong learn- of “gentlemanliness.”
ing: What fascinated me about the Professor • Devotion to family, friends, and commu-
was his humility in admitting what he did nity: This was a great and inspiring value
not understand or know, and that he was al- to all of Schultes’ students. He took great
ways ready to learn (or unlearn) something pride in both his academic and biological
about nature. family, constantly spoke of Dorothy and
• Working for his students, not the other way the children, and felt that participation in
around: Schultes was exceptionally devot- his community was an essential part of his
ed to seeing his students progress in their responsibilities as a teacher and mentor
careers, even though he had a laissez-faire (Fig. 3).
philosophy when it came to day to day su-
pervision. He would help his students find To his students Richard Evans Schultes of-
their way, and continue to do so, as long fered one of the greatest gifts that a teacher
as he was at Harvard, and well into retire- can give—opportunity. He was not the kind
 REFLECTIONS ON THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF RICHARD EVANS SCHULTES 9

of teacher who would hold his students’ est travels and accomplishments. His tenure
hands, except to navigate some of the intri- as Director of the Botanical Museum was a
cate political waters of the university. Conse- “Golden Age” of ethnobotany and econom-
quently, his students were independent, took ic botany, with dozens of graduate students
initiative, and could face successfully the immersed in field studies around the world.
many problems that fieldwork involved— Every week another international luminary
from plane and boat mishaps or food short- and friend of the Professor would drop by
ages, to dealing with governmental visa and to see him, to lecture the students, and offer
permit applications. These were essential their wisdom to the group.
survival skills for coping with life, I was later Richard Evans Schultes left his mark on
to discover. I was privileged to spend a por- many institutions and professional associa-
tion of my academic life at the side of this tions during his career. At The New York Bo-
great man, whose intelligence, courage, sense tanical Garden, he encouraged the establish-
of humor, vision, and accomplishments were ment of the Institute of Economic Botany,
so inspiring. And of course, I received my initially directed by his friend and colleague
series of letters from the Professor over sev- Sir Ghillean T. Prance, and was an active
eral decades, offering guidance in my fam- member of its board of scientific advisors.
ily and professional life, discussing topics of He was a founder of the Society for Eco-
scientific concern, and reporting on his lat- nomic Botany and editor of its journal from

Figure 4. Painting of R.E. Schultes in the Nash Laboratory, with his blowgun and classroom display.
Painting by Hannah Barrett; courtesy of Harvard University Herbaria.
10 BALICK

Figure 5. The author with

his professor in front of
the Botanical Museum,
Harvard University Gradu-
ation, June 1980. Photo
courtesy of the author.

1962–1979, providing guidance to a genera- ing my fieldwork in the Colombian Amazon

tion of economic botanists and ethnobota- (Fig. 4).
nists struggling to get their data and ideas on Despite his reputation as one of the great
paper and into wider circulation. He helped explorers of our era, he always advised his
set up programs in economic botany at aca- students not to actively seek out adventures
demic institutions and development projects in the course of their scientific work. He once
around the world. And he was known by insisted to me that “if a scientist is going to
thousands of Harvard undergraduates for the field in search of adventures he should
his teaching of Biology 104, the Economic not be there in the first place!” In my travels,
Botany course that he noted was the “oldest which traced a small portion of his itinerary in
course in the sciences at Harvard.” Among the Colombian Amazon, I was to hear many
the useful skills these future scientists, doc- stories about Schultes’ exploits, which he
tors, lawyers, and businesspeople learned rarely discussed when in Cambridge, from his
was how to aim an Amazonian blowgun and former guides. It is not often that the biogra-
shoot a curare dart into a target on the other phy of a botanist is written during his lifetime.
side of the lecture hall. He showed me how As an example of the respect his students ac-
to use the blowgun in the classroom, and corded him, Wade Davis, who did his Ph.D.
explained how and why it worked. This par- under Schultes, devoted several years of his
ticular skill was to come in quite handy dur- life to researching and writing One River: Ex-
 REFLECTIONS ON THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF RICHARD EVANS SCHULTES 11

ploration and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain For- (Fig. 5). To his family, I offer my gratitude for
est, an extraordinarily detailed and well-written allowing him to share his life with us all.
book on the life and times of the Professor
and his most notable student, the late Timo- LITERATURE CITED
thy Plowman.
Richard Evans Schultes, scientist, teacher, Davis, W. 1997. One River: Explorations and Discover-
ies in the Amazon Rain Forest. Simon & Schuster,
mentor, father, and friend, left an extraordi-
New York.
nary legacy to so many of us. I am grateful to Ames, O. 1980. Oakes Ames: Jottings of a Harvard
him for believing in me, for imparting some of Botanist. Harvard University Faculty of Arts and
his wisdom, and for being so patient a mentor Sciences, Cambridge.
Medicinal Plants and the Legacy of Richard E. Schultes was an all-day event held at the
Botany 2011 meetings in St. Louis in honor of Dr. Richard E. Schultes. Professor Schultes
was one of the great botanical explorers of the Amazon Basin, whose work redefined the
discipline of Ethnobotany. Contributors recounted his work and the research it inspired.

Contributors include:

• Michael J. Balick, New York Botanical Garden

• Rainer W. Bussmann, WLBC, Missouri Botanical Garden
• Robert Bye, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
• Rodrigo Cámara-Leret, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
• Andrés Gerique, Institute of Geography, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
• Aline Gregorio, California State University, Fullerton
• Steven R. King, Napo Pharmaceuticals
• Manuel J. Macía, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
• Narel Y. Paniagua Zambrana, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
• Leaa Short, California State University, Fullerton
• Neil P. Schultes, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
• Djaja D. Soejarto, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Robert Voeks, California State University, Fullerton
• James S. Zarucchi, Missouri Botanical Garden

The William L. Brown Center