What we do.
The Useful Wild Plants (UWP) project sets a standard for studying plant uses throughout the world. We are working to compile the first definitive economic botany encyclopedias for the southern half of the United States and northern Mexico. More than four decades of intensive interdisciplinary research have gone into this project, and it is the only undertaking of its kind world-wide.
Our Mission
Our mission is to advance the stewardship of wild and naturalized plants of Texas and surrounding regions. Texas is the hub of a botanical domain that spans the southern half of the United States and the northern third of Mexico. Over 4,000 species of native and naturalized plants from this region are a part of the Useful Wild Plants project. By compiling a comprehensive information base of the uses for these plants, we facilitate the sustainable economic development of an underutilized renewable resource. In doing so, we are able to:
Document human uses of regional botanical resources from early man to the most recent advances in scientific research;
Explore untapped applications for botanical resources in nutritional, pharmaceutical, industrial, and domestic use;
Advance interdisciplinary research by encouraging and participating in cooperative projects among scientists including economic botanists, anthropologists, agronomists, chemists, nutritionists, medical scientists, pharmacognocists, and industrialists;
Teach about the indispensable function of plants in fragile life ecosystems and the crucial, but often unnoticed, role that plants play in our daily experience;
Preserve endangered plants and habitats through conservation efforts.
Our Impact
The Useful Wild Plants (UWP) project sets a standard for studying plant uses throughout the world. We are working to compile the first definitive economic botany encyclopedias for the southern half of the United States and northern Mexico. More than two decades of intensive interdisciplinary research have gone into this project, and it is the only undertaking of its kind world-wide.
