Saving the ethnopharmacological heritage of Samoa.
Early European visitors to Samoa tended to denigrate the authenticity and efficacy of Samoan herbal medicine, yet bioassays indicate pharmacological activity in over 86% of Samoan medicinal plants. Novel anti-inflammatory compounds have been isolated from Alphitonia zyzyphoides and Erythrina variegata, and the anti-HIV compound prostratin has been isolated from Homalanthus nutans. Unfortunately, both Samoan ethnopharmacology and Samoan rain forests are threatened. In order to prevent logging, funds were raised to build a needed village school in exchange for a village covenant to protect the 30,000 acre Falealupo forest. Subsequently, four additional rainforest reserves have been established. Hopefully such conservation measures can save the ethnopharmacological knowledge of Samoa.
Cox
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Department of Botany, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602.
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D010602:Pharmacopoeias as Topic; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D011114:Polynesia