Popular Science: How plant hunting has evolved over the centuries

From my Are We There Yet? column on Pop Sci

A long time ago, plant hunters ‘discovered’ ’new’ species. Now they’re digging into novel chemistry.

CHIEF AMONG THE many wonders encountered by Renaissance explorers were the novel plants never before seen in Europe. In Spanish geographer Martín Fernández de Enciso’s 1519 account of his experiences in the Americas, “La Suma de Geografía,” he described a delectable new fruit, writing, “when it is ready for eating it turns yellowish; that which it contains is like butter and is of marvelous flavor, so good and pleasing to the palate..."

How plant hunting has evolved over the centuries

Many thanks to Marina Galperina, Popular Science Managing Editor.

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