Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation podcast Plants of the Gods: S8E6 Richard Evans Schultes' Legacy — Where Science Meets the Sacred
May 4, 2026
Wade Davis, anthropologist, ethnobotanist, and author of One River, reflects on Richard Evans Schultes and his Amazonian explorations. He recounts Schultes' peyote breakthrough, identification of sacred mushrooms and morning glories, links to Wasson and the psychedelic era, mentorship that shaped One River, and field methods used to reconstruct a legendary scientific life.
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How A Single Book Launched Schultes' Career
- Wade Davis recounts how Richard Evans Schultes' peyote reading at Harvard sparked his lifelong pursuit of entheogens and led to fieldwork identifying sacred plants like Teonanacatl and Ololiuqui.
- Schultes' casual mentorship let Davis join Amazon expeditions at 19 and sent him to collect coca specimens for Tim Plowman, demonstrating Schultes' openness to young seekers.
Schultes' Finds Sparked The Psychedelic Era
- Davis describes Schultes' field discoveries in Mexico proving Teonanacatl was a mushroom and Ololiuqui a morning glory, which directly influenced Gordon Wasson's mushroom research.
- Wasson's Life article and Timothy Leary's readership helped spark the psychedelic era, tying Schultes' botanical finds to wider cultural impact.
Mentorship By Trust Shaped Ethnobotany's Next Generation
- Davis explains that Schultes mentored by invitation, not credentials, offering opportunities to eager but inexperienced students like Davis himself.
- This informal, trust-based mentorship produced protégés such as Tim Plowman and seeded major ethnobotanical work like One River.
