Hemp is definitely on the list, some variety that works both as a fiber and a medicinal!
I was actually thinking about breadfruit - they supply an excellent staple crop (like plantain, but easier), give a semi-usable latex, and have medicinal uses.
I'm debating what to bring as their stimulant of choice. There will be something, yes, but so many choices! Kola, coca, cacao, tea, betel and areca, coffee, guarana ... and those are just the first that come to mind. If you could only pick one, which would you pick?
They're definitely going to bring some yeasts, for alcohol and bread and cheese and yoghurt and so on; I don't know if it would be necessary to bring a crop *just* to ferment, though. And they're going to bring some bacterial strains that produce antibiotics, and maybe a few other useful pharmaceutical-producing bacterial strains. Though I'm not sure what would go into a basic pharmacopeia, and what you would want to get herbally. Also while I can name lots of medicinal herbs that do various things, I'm not sure which I'd pick if I had to pick only a few!
Off the top of my head, I'd want, as the very basics: at least two painkiller choices, a sedative, a febrifuge, an anti-inflammatory, an anti-biotic, an anti-histamine, insulin, birth control, and a general immunosuppressant. But I'm probably forgetting something. Some of those I could cheat and use engineered bacterial strains; some could be multi-purpose. With a limited labor pool, they won't be able to grow everything, so it's going to have to be triage, especially on the medicinals.
They aren't going to have many serious infectious diseases, since they aren't bringing many and they'll have a fairly small population pool for breeding more, but there will be all that results from our various friendly flora, and trauma, and all the ways the human body can attack itself.
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Date: 2010-10-20 03:55 am (UTC)I was actually thinking about breadfruit - they supply an excellent staple crop (like plantain, but easier), give a semi-usable latex, and have medicinal uses.
I'm debating what to bring as their stimulant of choice. There will be something, yes, but so many choices! Kola, coca, cacao, tea, betel and areca, coffee, guarana ... and those are just the first that come to mind. If you could only pick one, which would you pick?
They're definitely going to bring some yeasts, for alcohol and bread and cheese and yoghurt and so on; I don't know if it would be necessary to bring a crop *just* to ferment, though. And they're going to bring some bacterial strains that produce antibiotics, and maybe a few other useful pharmaceutical-producing bacterial strains. Though I'm not sure what would go into a basic pharmacopeia, and what you would want to get herbally. Also while I can name lots of medicinal herbs that do various things, I'm not sure which I'd pick if I had to pick only a few!
Off the top of my head, I'd want, as the very basics: at least two painkiller choices, a sedative, a febrifuge, an anti-inflammatory, an anti-biotic, an anti-histamine, insulin, birth control, and a general immunosuppressant. But I'm probably forgetting something. Some of those I could cheat and use engineered bacterial strains; some could be multi-purpose. With a limited labor pool, they won't be able to grow everything, so it's going to have to be triage, especially on the medicinals.
They aren't going to have many serious infectious diseases, since they aren't bringing many and they'll have a fairly small population pool for breeding more, but there will be all that results from our various friendly flora, and trauma, and all the ways the human body can attack itself.