Sangre de Drago
A remarkable deep-red resin collected from Croton trees of the Amazon. Sangre de Drago has a long history of traditional use for skin, wounds, and irritated tissue. Its unusual chemistry includes polyphenols, proanthocyanidins, and alkaloids—one of those plants where ancestral medicine and modern biological research become particularly interesting.
Chuchuwasa
An Amazonian tree whose bark has traditionally been prepared in tonics and botanical remedies for aching bodies, inflammation, and physical recovery. Chuchuwasa contains a complex mixture of plant compounds, including triterpenes and other secondary metabolites. It is one of Dr. Wingo’s favorite examples of serious Amazonian plant chemistry hiding inside a rather unassuming piece of bark.
Guayusa
An Ecuadorian Amazonian holly traditionally brewed as an energizing tea—but Dr. Wingo thinks putting it in a teacup is only the beginning. Guayusa contains caffeine along with polyphenols, chlorogenic acids, and other antioxidant compounds. Its rich chemistry makes it particularly interesting for botanical skin and scalp formulations.
Uña de Gato
Also known as Cat’s Claw, Uncaria tomentosa is an Amazonian climbing vine named for the curved thorns that resemble a cat’s claws. Traditionally used in South American plant medicine, it contains distinctive oxindole alkaloids as well as polyphenols and other biologically active compounds. It is an excellent example of just how chemically complicated a medicinal plant can be.
Romero
Rosemary may be familiar, but chemically it is anything but boring. This intensely aromatic Mediterranean plant contains compounds such as rosmarinic acid, carnosic acid, and an essential-oil fraction rich in terpenes. Its long traditional association with the hair, scalp, skin, and circulation makes it a natural resident of the Dr. Wingo Apothecary.
Ataco
A striking Andean amaranth traditionally grown in Ecuador and recognizable by its extraordinary red-purple color. Ataco is rich in plant pigments and antioxidant compounds, including betalains and polyphenols. It is exactly the sort of overlooked local botanical Dr. Wingo loves: beautiful, chemically interesting, and hiding in plain sight.
Moringa
Moringa oleifera has earned its reputation as a remarkably useful plant. Its leaves are rich in polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, vitamins, minerals, and other antioxidant compounds. Traditionally valued as both food and medicine, moringa is a perfect Dr. Wingo plant: nutritious, chemically complicated, extremely useful, and almost ridiculously generous.
Stevia
Most people know Stevia rebaudiana as the little plant that makes things extraordinarily sweet, but sweetness is only part of its chemistry. Its famous steviol glycosides occur alongside polyphenols, flavonoids, and other plant compounds. Long used traditionally in South America, stevia is considerably more interesting than the packets sitting beside the coffee.
Ajo Sacha
Despite its powerful garlic-like aroma, Mansoa alliacea isn’t garlic at all. This Amazonian climbing plant has a long history of traditional use for aching bodies, inflammation, and general physical complaints. Its distinctive sulfur-containing chemistry helps explain both its unmistakable smell and why Dr. Wingo finds this wonderfully strange jungle vine so interesting.
Congona
Known in Ecuador as congona, Peperomia inaequalifolia is an aromatic Andean plant traditionally associated with nervios, calming preparations, and other household botanical remedies. Its fragrant leaves contain an intriguing mixture of volatile and secondary plant compounds. It’s one of those modest-looking Ecuadorian plants that becomes much more interesting once you start asking what is actually inside it.
Pimpinella
Plants in the genus Pimpinella belong to the aromatic carrot family, a group famous for producing intensely fragrant essential oils and other secondary metabolites. Various Pimpinella species have long histories in traditional digestive and household preparations. Small, aromatic, and chemically busy—exactly the sort of botanical that earns a place in Dr. Wingo’s notebook.
Valerian
Valerian has been associated with rest and relaxation for centuries, and its chemistry is every bit as distinctive as its famously funky-smelling roots. Valeriana species contain volatile oils and compounds including valerenic acids and related constituents that have attracted considerable scientific interest. Dr. Wingo considers the smell part of the experience. The plants apparently disagree with marketing departments.
Copal
Copal isn’t one single plant but a traditional name for aromatic resins obtained from several resin-producing trees throughout the Americas. Burned ceremonially for centuries and also incorporated into traditional preparations, these fragrant resins contain complex mixtures of terpenes and other compounds. Sticky, aromatic, chemically fascinating, and ancient—copal was practically destined for an Apothecary.
Ortiga
Nettle has spent centuries convincing people not to touch it, which is unfortunate because Urtica species are chemically fascinating plants. Their leaves contain polyphenols, flavonoids, minerals, and numerous other plant compounds, while their famous stinging hairs deliver their own tiny chemical surprise. Traditionally used for skin, scalp, joints, and aching bodies, ortiga proves that occasionally the obnoxious plants are worth getting to know.
Cúrcuma
The brilliant golden rhizome of Curcuma longa contains curcuminoids—including the famous curcumin—along with aromatic compounds concentrated in its essential oil. Turmeric has an extraordinarily long history of traditional use and has become one of the most extensively studied botanical ingredients in modern research. Dr. Wingo likes it for a simpler reason: underneath that ridiculous yellow color is some seriously interesting plant chemistry.
Jengibre
Zingiber officinale is much more chemically interesting than its familiar place in the kitchen suggests. Fresh ginger is particularly associated with gingerols, while heating and processing can transform some of those compounds into shogaols and other constituents. That changing chemistry makes ginger a beautiful example of an Apothecary principle: how you prepare a plant can matter almost as much as which plant you started with.
Linaza
The humble seed of Linum usitatissimum performs a wonderful little piece of botanical chemistry when it meets water. Its outer layers release polysaccharide-rich mucilage, producing the slippery gel that has made linseed a traditional ingredient in hair and skin preparations. In the Dr. Wingo Apothecary, we exploit this completely shamelessly. Sometimes sophisticated plant chemistry looks remarkably like a bowl of goo.
Ají
Hot peppers in the genus Capsicum manufacture capsaicinoids as chemical defenses—and humans promptly decided to eat them and rub them on aching bodies. Capsaicin interacts with the TRPV1 receptor involved in heat and pain sensation, making chili one of the clearest examples of traditional botanical practice meeting modern neurobiology. It burns for a reason. Dr. Wingo considers that part particularly interesting.
Leche de Sande
Leche de Sande is the milky latex obtained from Amazonian trees traditionally known as sande, particularly species of Brosimum. It has a long history of local traditional use and belongs to the enormous pharmacological library hidden inside Amazonian forests. Its latex contains a complicated mixture of plant constituents—exactly the sort of material that reminds Dr. Wingo how much botanical chemistry remains to be explored.
Cacao
Long before cacao became a candy bar, Theobroma cacao was one of the great plants of the Americas. Its seeds contain distinctive methylxanthines, polyphenols, and the extraordinarily rich fat we know as cocoa butter. Even its scientific name means “food of the gods.” Delicious, chemically sophisticated, and useful on skin—cacao was never going to stay out of the Apothecary.
Castor
Ricinus communis produces one of the strangest and most useful botanical oils in formulation. Castor oil is unusually rich in ricinoleic acid, a hydroxylated fatty acid responsible for many of the oil’s distinctive physical properties. Thick, glossy, persistent, and unlike most common plant oils, castor is a wonderful reminder that even the humble carrier oils have chemistry worth getting excited about.