INDIGENOUS PLANT SPECIES KNOWLEDGE
Western science systems remain limited in many areas. For example, even a handful of soil taken from the Eastern U.S. is likely to contain many unknown species. Although a total of 1.4 million species are known to Western Science, there remain roughly 10 million species that are as yet unidentified.
In fact, Linden’s September 23, 1991 article in Time Magazine “Lost Tribes- Lost Knowledge” reports that Western scientists have thoroughly studied only 1,100 of the earth's 265,000 species of plants. On the other hand, Indigenous peoples have a working knowledge of no less than 25 to 30 thousand plant species. A majority of these unknown plant medicine is in Sacred Head Waters of the Amazon.