For a decade the loss of natural resources, including plants and their habitats, has been the focus of considerable international concern. Far less public attention appears to have been given to the significant loss of traditional knowledge, including plantlore, although globally this may be disappearing at an even more alarming rate. This paper argues that the public should be as concerned with preserving cultural diversity as they are with the conservation of biological diversity.

Education is seen as a two-edged sword: being both the most serious threat to traditional plant knowledge and the only means of saving it. Nine brief case studies are offered to demonstrate contrasting situations in Africa, Asia, Central America, Australia and Scotland. Emphasis will be put on the benefits which our Western society may gain from learning about the traditional use of plants.