Dr. Vo Van Chi has spent more than half of his life studying herbs for medical use

Now 80, the author of the first and most comprehensive book about medicinal plants in Vietnam still walks deep into remote forests talking with village leaders and shamans about the various uses of local herbs.

“It was the beginning of my destiny with plants and herbs,” says Chi. “And that fate continues today.”

After teaching for 21 years in Hanoi, Chi moved to teach at Da Lat University for four years and then the Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmacy University.

During his 30-year journey from north to south, Chi studied herbs from various ecosystems all over the country.

Together with his students, colleagues and even by himself, he’s visited nearly every major forest in Vietnam and has learned as much from discussions with ethnic minority healers as he has from talking with scientists and academic herbalists.

As a devoted lover of plants, Chi saves paper by writing three drafts to one page on just one sheet of paper. He first writes in light pencil that can be erased easily. Then he writes in blue pen and finally makes the ultimate changes in red pen over that. With an enduring passion to nurture both plants and his work, Chi has completed thousands upon thousands of pages, and several books with this method.

Chi earned a doctorate in 1976 with his dissertation: “Medical Herbs in the Northern and Southern Plant Systems” – the first doctorate on the subject in Vietnam.

Twenty-one years later, he published the Dictionary of Vietnamese Medical Herbs, detailing more than 3,100 local herbs.

The biologist then wrote and cooperated with other scientists to publish a variety of books on herbs and plants like the English-Vietnamese Biological Dictionary, the Russian -Vietnamese Biological Dictionary, and the Central Highlands Medical Herb System.

He is also the author of the Dictionary of Common Plants published in 2003-2004, and the Reference Book of Vietnamese Plant Names, published last year.

Chi still wanders the forests in southern Dong Nai Province and the central provinces of Binh Thuan and Lam Dong collecting material for an updated edition of his Dictionary of Vietnamese Medical Herbs, set to include 1,800 more plants and herbs.

Reported by Bui Chien