By SHARON LEIGH

The rainforests are a promising source for new, improved and upcoming cosmetic entries. The Illipe nut was an early discovery.

EXCERPT

IT’S A LONG WAY FROM THE FLOWERS AND SHRUBS of the New York Botanical Garden to the tropical rainforests of Borneo, but ethnobiologists at the NYBG’s Institute of Economic Botany are helping Indonesians manage and harvest resources grown in the jungle.

Working with local communities which may be threatening survival of vegetation by inadvertently harvesting plant embryos, the Botanic Garden’s Michael Balick helps native farmers harvest illipe nuts without using them up.One success has been the increased use of illipe nut butter for cosmetics.

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