Green Nature 808 · An illustrated history
People, research and experience.
A plant woven into human life. Follow its history through the objects, places and people that help us understand it.
Look closely. Follow the sources. Keep asking.
Read the features
Begin in China. Explore an Irish physician’s work in India. Meet the chemist who helped change the field. Follow Jack Herer’s references back to the original records.
New featureMaterials & maritime life · 5 minute read
Hemp, rope and the age of sail.
From plant fibre to rigging: the workers, ropewalks and material choices behind a ship’s journey.
Follow the thread ↗USS Constitution, 1931 · Naval History and Heritage Command.
ChinaThe opening chapter · 6 minute read
China, early cultivation
and a much longer memory.
What plant genetics, excavated remains and medical texts can tell us about a relationship measured in millennia.
Read the feature ↗
1839The physician · 5 minute read
An Irish doctor, Indian knowledge
and a landmark paper.
Local practitioners and established knowledge were central to his investigation. His original case reports reveal both observations and uncertainty.
Read the feature ↗
1964The chemist · 7 minute read
From a plant’s chemistry
to the body’s own signals.
A life in research, shared discoveries and the long journey from an interesting finding to evidence in patients.
Read the feature ↗
1985The book · 5 minute read
Jack Herer asked readers to look again.
We follow the paper trail.
Two short excerpts, hemp rope, paper trials and a wartime film. Explore the original records behind the story.
Read the feature ↗Portrait: D. Paul Stanford, 2009 · Public domain. Full credits in the feature.
1941The experiment · 4 minute read
Henry Ford, hemp
and plant-based materials.
A contemporary report, a plastic-bodied car and a distinction that changes the familiar story.
Read the feature ↗Portrait: Fred Hartsook, circa 1919 · Public domain.
Then & NowEveryday materials · 7 minute read
Construction. Textiles. Clothing.
Paper. Fuel. Food.
Six comparisons connect historical objects with modern uses. Plus: tracing the Buddha and one-hemp-seed story.
Explore Then & Now ↗Coverlet: The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public domain.
Why “So Far”?
This series grew from Barry O’Flanagan’s interest in the people and experiences behind cannabis research. It now reaches further back: into farming, textiles, trade, belief, medicine and the changing place of this plant in everyday life.
We follow the references, credit the people involved and make uncertainty visible. Archaeology, historical accounts and personal experience each have something to contribute. As the collection grows, first-person stories will be shared with permission and care.
A reference, photograph credit or short outline is a good place to start. Please do not send private medical records.
Wellcome Collection, L0039328 · CC BY 4.0. Sixteenth-century Bencao gangmu opening page; source thumbnail, displayed at reduced size.
O’Shaughnessy title page: Wellcome Collection, 1839 · Public domain.
Mechoulam photograph: Sir Shurf / Wikimedia Commons, 26 December 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; displayed crops under the same licence.
Reading trail: Jack Herer’s The Emperor Wears No Clothes — Electric Emperor archive mirror. An advocacy text and a route to further references; individual historical claims require independent checking.
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