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Cocaine was the first local anesthetic; being
used as such from about 1884 onwards.
The rosy periwinkle plant, found in Madagascar, is
used to cure leukemia.
Banana oil never saw a banana; it’s made from
petroleum.
From the 1500’s to the 1700’s, tobacco was
prescribed by doctors to treat a variety of ailments including headaches,
toothaches, arthritis and bad breath.
In 1924, Pope Urban VIII threatened to
excommunicate snuff users
Peanuts are beans.
Rice paper isn’t made from rice but from a small
tree which grows in Taiwan.
Tea was so expensive when it was first brought to
Europe in the early 17th century that it was
kept in locked wooden boxes.
The fragrance of flowers is due to the essences
of oil which they produce.
The
largest single flower is the Rafflesia or “corpse flower”. They are
generally 3 feet in diameter with the record being 42 inches
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