Leslie Taylor

Ms. Taylor founded, managed and directed the Raintree group of companies from 1996 to 2012. (www.rain-tree.com) She is the author of the book, Herbal Secrets of the Rainforest, published September 1998 and the bestselling book, The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs, published in March 2005. Leslie is also the author of the extensive online Tropical Plant Database on rainforest medicinal plants. (www.rain-tree.com/plants.htm) She is currently writing a new series of books called The Rainforest Medicinal Plant Guide Series with the first book in the series available in March 1, 2020.

As a cancer survivor who survived a rare form of leukemia only because of alternative health and herbal medicine in her mid-20's, Leslie has been researching, studying and documenting alternative healing modalities including herbal medicine for over 40 years. She is a dedicated herbalist and naturopath and has developed many herbal formulas and remedies for her companies, practitioners and for individuals needing help. In 1995, while researching alternative AIDS and cancer therapies in Europe, Leslie began researching a medicinal plant from the Peruvian rainforest called cat's claw. This research took her to the Peruvian rainforest for the first time to learn first hand more about this new medicinal plant. Upon her return, Leslie founded the Raintree companies to make this important new rainforest medicinal plant available in the United States.

Since that first trip, Ms. Taylor has returned to the Amazon numerous times, continuing to research and document more medicinal plants from the South American rainforests. In these endeavors, she has worked hands on with Indigenous Indian shamans and healers, learning directly about their ancient empirical plant knowledge, as well as with Indigenous tribal communities and other rainforest communities. In addition, Ms. Taylor works directly with phytochemists, botanists, ethnobotanists, researchers, and herbal medicine practitioners to document, research, test and validate rainforest medicinal plants. Her personal and company mission was to make available new and important medicinal plants from the rainforests while trying to make an impact in helping to preserve the rainforests from destruction.

Leslie Taylor is one of the world’s leading experts on rainforest medicinal plants and a leader in creating a worldwide market for the important medicinal plants of the Amazon rainforest. Previously, as a product manufacturer and bulk supplier, she was bound by the rules and regulations of the industry, which limited her ability to share vital information on the research that validated the effective uses of these powerful plants to positively affect our health. She closed her company and naturopathic practice to focus on sharing her extensive knowledge of these medicinal plants she’s used and studied for over twenty years and to reveal the secrets of how to use these remarkable rainforest plants effectively. Her new series of rainforest medicinal plant guides will be sharing these secrets.

Ms. Taylor is a board certified naturopath (now retired) and has lectured and taught classes in naturopathic medicine, herbal medicine, ethnobotany, as well as environmental and sustainability issues in the Amazon for over 20 years. She shares more of her personal story in the introduction to her book, The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs (www.rain-tree.com/intro.htm)