Terpenes or terpenoids are a major and very broad group of medicinal plant constituents.
Let's step through from the entirely most simple, terpenes; monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, and triterpenes, to the also very significant larger terpenoids. We'll touch on themes of slight hormonal and endocrine influence, as well as the most immediately sensed qualities of the wide range of terpenes, from aromatic to hormonal to nutritional, and how and why there is so much overlap in constituents that are of interest to plants to make, and medicinal effects on our body, and on other organisms that are significant to human disease. Step right up, and don't get stuck. This is about a 40-minute spoken casual introductory lesson. 

-Heather Irvine (Sound Wise About Medicinal Plants) 

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This 15-minute talk is different than probably anything you have ever heard.
This is my own personal characterization of the main elements of organic molecules, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur, as well as some commentary on phosphorus and minerals.

This is loosely part of a series on phytochemistry that I am building, and some practice material for a book draft and an upcoming seminar I will lead on Phytochemistry.

-Heather Irvine 

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Good Day Medicinal Plant Interested!

This is an approximately 1-hour, very gradual introduction to phytochemistry, from an herbalists perspective. I recorded it as a 'rehearsal' to the introduction I will give in a four-hour intensive on Phytochemistry for Herbalists at a conference. It may be a bit slow for some taste, but if you are looking for help in approaching herbalism and phytochemistry and you can listen and multitask you might like this blueprint to approaching herbs, from many angles that I have learned from, which certainly are not all the good angles one can learn from!

I plan to record other segments soon, some broad, and some specific, in preparation for a presentation at the 2023 Great Lakes Herb Faire where this topic will be a four-hour intensive for herb learners.

The topics covered in this first hour:
Where does the direction for phytochemical research originate from?
State of phytochemistry research today compared to a few decades ago
What's the point of an herbalist learning about chemistry?
What's the point of a chemist or person coming from a conventional background learning from the herbal perspective?
Organoleptics! What is it and how do I hone my senses?
The many languages of herbalism (well segments of it!)
Primary plant metabolites compared to secondary plant metabolites
Segue from nutrition to medicinal plant
Stepping into the secondary metabolites - an intro overview
Recognizable examples

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Hello Herbalists!

I've just added a 2-hour phytochemistry intro. It is heavy on alkaloids, medium on terpenes, and polyphenols, and I mention relevant immune-modulating polysaccharides, as well as sources. It's brief on glycosides and mentions a few other groups that round out the set of medicinal phytochemical constituents.

I may add some talks and topics to this in time but for now it would be a great introduction to photochemistry or a refresher if this is a topic you are preparing to teach.

Thanks! 

-Heather 

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