Michael Balick is Vice President for Botanical Science and Director of the Institute of Economic Botany at The New York Botanical Garden. We talk about ethnobotany, collaboration, and chewing on ginseng.

For more information:

• Plants, People, and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany by Paul Cox and Michael Balick

• Plants and People of Vanuatu project description

• Category 5 Cyclone Pam Devastates Vanuatu by Alan Taylor

• Ancient Wisdom, Modern Practices: Three Decades of Studying the Plants and People of Belize on the New York Botanical Garden website

• 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology lecture by Tu Youyou