Sweetgum
Taking photos makes me stop and notice things, find out things I otherwise never would. My eye was caught one day during the holidays by this statue and the jars of medicines in the window of the Institute of Chinese Medicine just off Trafalgar Square. I photographed the dried Sweetgum fruits because they were visually beautiful and interesting, and new to me. When I got home and looked them up I found there was a particular reason these were in the window. A well-known remedy in both Chinese and North American traditional medicine, Sweetgum is now in demand by the mainstream pharmaceutical industry as a source of shikimic acid, an ingredient in the manufacture of Tamiflu.
5 comments:
wow aren't they beautiful!
Yes! I look at things differently with the camera. Even if the outcome isn't yet the way my eye sees, it's a gift.
That's a withering expression on his face. It begs a caption - something sarcastic!
The picture of the statue is striking. Interesting about Tamiflu.
I've never seen a liquidamber tree bearing fruit, must be only something they do in China!
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