It's not just in Africa that wild plants are dug up for food and medicine. I attended a talk by a Chinese botanist from the vast plateau north of Tibet. Almost every mountain flower she showed in her slides was used medicinally. And no, this was not a talk on alternative medicines or ethnobotany, but one for gardeners. It is a shame when it is the root or bulb that is used instead of renewable leaves or seeds. Diane Whitehead