© WikipediaRhodiola Rosea
For four hours, the unlikely trio made its way up the rugged face of the Sayan Mountains in northern Mongolia - Richard P. Brown, an American psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist, Zakir Ramazanov, a distinguished Russian plant biochemist, and their Siberian guide. Under a cloudless sky of the deepest blue, they climbed quickly, the temperature falling and the oxygen growing thinner as they gained altitude. At last, after climbing more than 10,000 feet over icy streams and rugged rock faces, they crested the last ridge. "We stood and stared in amazement," remembers Brown. "Everywhere we looked, growing in the craggy mountain ravine, were the bright yellow flowers of Rhodiola rosea."
Brown began digging around for information about the little-known herb, which is also called Arctic root or golden root. When he contacted an American company that produces a rhodiola supplement, he was advised to speak with Ramazanov, who had done research on the herb in Russia, where the plant grows. "By an incredible coincidence, Ramazanov had just moved to the United States and was living only an hour away from me," says Brown.
The two men agreed to get together, and during their first meeting the Russian biochemist gave Brown a tall stack of articles and research studies, as well as a book he'd written about the herb. "I realized then that there was much more to this than I'd ever imagined," says Brown.
