AbstractAs the world's limited supplies of coal and oil deplete, we shall become more obviously dependent on the plants for the medicinal compounds, insecticides, fungicides, fuels, lubricants, and chemical intermediates which are now produced from coal- and oil-based chemical industries. Yet we are exhausting fossil fuels as well as destroying the great forests of which — especially that in the Amazon Basin — we know almost nothing. This abuse of our resources is most threatening. The paper examines the potential of plants and calls for a change in policy.