Richard Evans Schultes dies at 86

- David Galbraith

According to reports in The New York Times, Richard Evans Schultes died on April 10, 2001 in Boston, MA, at the age of 86.

Richard Evans Schultes was Emeritus Professor of Biology and the Harvard Botanical Museum of Harvard University. Schultes is remembered as one of the founding figures in ethnobotany, a prolific author and field researcher of the middle of the 20th century, and the mentor of such contemporary biologists as Wade Davis.

Davis in particular has written extensively about Schultes and the work of his graduate students. In his book One River: Exploration and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest (1996, Simon & Schuster Inc., New York.), Davis weaves an intricate tale of exploration of the plants of the Amazon in both the 1980s and the 1930s and 1940s, reinforcing the intimate relationship between the use of plant compounds (especially hallucinogens.) and the cultures of the native peoples of the Americas. Schultes spent years exploring these relationships, often documenting the effects of various compounds and preparations on himself. As a result of his explorations of the pharmacological effects of plants, Schultes is sometimes credited with touching off the exploration of the potential of plant substances as methods of spiritual exploration that blossomed in the 1960s as the psychedelic movement.

Among Schultes' more recent books were:

Potions, Poisons, & Panaceas: An Ethnobotanical Study of Montserrat, by Richard E. Schultes, David E. Brussell, and J. P. Theurillat (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997)

The Sacred Mushroom Seeker: Tributes to R. Gordon Wasson, edited by Thomas J. Riedlinger, Albert Hofmann, Terence McKenna, Joan Halifax, Peter Furst, and Richard E. Schultes (Inner Traditions International, Limited)

Ethnobotany:The Evolution of a Discipline, by Richard E. Schultes and Siri V. Von Reis (Timber Press, Incorporated, 1995)

The Glass Flowers at Harvard, by William A. Davis and Richard E. Schultes (Botanical Museum of Harvard University, 1992)

The Healing Forest: Medicinal & Toxic Plants of the Northwest Amazonia, by Richard E. Schultes, and Robert F. Raffauf (Timber Press, Incorporated, 1990