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"  I&amp;#039;m sitting cross-legged on the floor of a wall-less hut in the Samoan jungle, huddled (next to a rooster) just beyond the reach of a raging tropical downpour. Getting here required a trek that would daunt a Survivor contestant (it was so muddy I had to tie my shoes to my feet with sandwich bags), but the payoff is priceless. Graham Clewer\u2014the director of ethical trade for The Body Shop\u2014 is presenting to Makerita Sila, a formidable woman clad in a traditional ie lavalava sarong who presides over the farm we&amp;#039;re visiting, a new range of products containing virgin coconut oil harvested on her land. She turns the sleek bottles of lotion over in her hands only briefly, smiling with the patient expression of someone who&amp;#039;s been given a neat, but not overly impressive, gift. Through a translator, she conveys her gratitude for The Body Shop Community Trade program, which has made a tremendous difference for her impoverished family, as well as provides some amusement: Virgin coconut oil, which we have traveled halfway around the world to learn about, has been a part of her life since the day she was born. &amp;quot;We use it from head to toe,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;It keeps our hair and skin soft and young.&amp;quot; As I regard her unlined face and the glossy, ebony bun secured with a Bic pen at her crown, my mind flashes to the glut of high-tech lotions and potions on my bathroom shelf. Is it possible that while scientists have been busy trying to find the next big anti-aging ingredient in a lab, it&amp;#039;s been hiding in plain sight\u2014literally growing on trees? According to mounting evidence, yes. Some of the most exciting recent skinsaving breakthroughs are based on &amp;quot;active&amp;quot; natural ingredients\u2014that is, natural ingredients that contain clinically proven bioactive molecules capable of firing up collagen-producing fibroblasts, accelerating cell turnover and arresting the effects of sun damage. Their use is in no way limited to brands you might find on the shelves at Whole Foods: From the rare Madagascan vanilla planifolia at the heart of Chanel&amp;#039;s Sublimage range, which contains a high level of anti-aging molecules called polyketones, to the rejuvenating black algae found in Givenchy&amp;#039;s Le Soin Noir, to the patented combination of botanicals in Sisley&amp;#039;s new $750 Suprem\u00FFa La Nuit (which in vitro tests have shown to extend the life span of cells), these ingredients are doing the heavy lifting in some of the most costly and cuttingedge cosmetics available. &amp;quot;Plants are nature&amp;#039;s chemists,&amp;quot; says Lieve Declercq, PhD, Origins&amp;#039; global spokesperson of plant physiology and molecular biology. &amp;quot;They have evolved to withstand inclement environments and to regenerate when damaged\u2014they&amp;#039;re the ultimate multitaskers. And while synthetics usually only have one targeted function, natural ingredients tend to have a whole array of benefits.&amp;quot; Furthermore, what exists in nature can&amp;#039;t always be reproduced in a test tube. As Red Flower founder and CEO Yael Alkalay says, &amp;quot;The makeup of botanical matter is very hard to mimic. Take, for example, spirulina: It contains vitamins, sugar, iron, sodium, copper, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and oxygen. You can&amp;#039;t create that same structure in a lab\u2014there are too many things going on.&amp;quot; It&amp;#039;s little surprise that many of the plants that are proving to be most potent are those with long histories of traditional use. For example, science is validating what women such as Sila and her fellow Pacific Islanders already know: Coconut oil&amp;#039;s unrivaled moisturizing effect on hair is due to its unique molecular structure, which enables it to penetrate breaks and help prevent protein and water loss within each shaft, while the abundant medium chain triglycerides it contains serve as a replacement for lipids lost to aging and dehydration in the skin&amp;#039;s barrier. Says Verm\u00E9n M. Verallo-Rowell, MD, author of Rx: Coconuts! (The Perfect Health Nut), &amp;quot;Coconuts are rich in growth factors, including kinetin\u2014a plant hormone that promotes cell division and that has been shown to slow age-related changes in human skin cells in vitro and in vivo.&amp;quot; Additionally, the antibacterial monolaurins in coconut oil outperform isopropyl alcohol as an antiseptic, making it a soothing acne-fighter and nondrying natural alternative to Purell. &amp;quot;With the help of twenty-first-century science, we continue to discover new active components within natural ingredients that have been known for centuries,&amp;quot; says Warren Wallo, associate director of scientific affairs for Johnson &amp;amp;amp; Johnson Consumer and publisher of extensive clinical trials for Aveeno. &amp;quot;The Greeks and Romans knew that adding oats to bathwater would soften skin, but now we know why: Oats contain cleansing plant compounds called saponins, calming beta-glucans, proteins that bind to the skin to form a protective barrier, and anti-inflammatory avenanthramides. With this knowledge, we can formulate the ingredients so that they can deliver their benefits in the most efficacious way.&amp;quot; The commonly touted (some might even say garden-variety) active naturals are chiefly those with the greatest amount of independent research backing them up. Green tea, now headlining everything from lip balm to shampoo, is thought to be a veritable time reversing dynamo thanks to compounds called epicatechins, which studies have shown to neutralize free radicals before they can damage cells and to deprive tumors of the nutrients needed for growth. Certain mushrooms have long been known for their skin calming qualities but are increasingly sprouting up in targeted anti-aging products. Organically grown varieties such as chaga, reishi, and maitake have been shown to boost immune function in cells, while the latter is said to increase cellular repair activity in the skin. Licorice extract, which contains anti-inflammatory pigment inhibitor glabridin, is a key component in a host of gentle skinbrighteners, while soy, the star ingredient in Aveeno&amp;#039;s Positively Radiant range, contains proteins that prevent the development of sun spots as well as compounds that bolster hyaluronic acid and collagen. As these ingredients gain more currency, the net is being cast ever wider in the search for the next powerhouse plant. At this very moment, there are scores of ethnobotanists picking their way through the flora of farflung jungles, gathering information on traditional uses of little-known vines, testing tree bark and flower stems, while labbound phytochemists are poring over medical journals, looking for idea-sparking studies. Declercq was inspired to investigate mimosa tenuiflora\u2014which ultimately became the star ingredient in Origins&amp;#039; new Starting Over Age-erasing Moisturizer with Mimosa after reading that the Red Cross had endorsed the use of mimosa bark extract to speed the recovery of burns, wounds, and infections following a major earthquake in Mexico in 1985. &amp;quot;I thought, Clearly this has a repair capacity,&amp;quot; Declercq remembers. &amp;quot;And what we found in our lab is that it is a very potent stimulator of collagen synthesis. It acts very quickly, with long-lasting clinical benefits.&amp;quot; Similarly, when a colleague told her that Russian soldiers and astronauts enhanced their stamina and energy with a tea made from rhodiola, a yellow-flowered plant that grows high in the remote mountains of Siberia, she decided to test it to see if it had similarly invigorating effects on skin cells. &amp;quot;We discovered that rhodiola&amp;#039;s phytonutrients help skin rebound from stresses such as fatigue and UV exposure by restoring firmness and elasticity,&amp;quot; says Declercq, whose team put the active to work in Youthtopia SPF 15 Skin Firming Foundation with Rhodiola. &amp;quot;We can often find a parallel between the properties that a plant has when internally and its external effects,&amp;quot; she says.  Clarins, which currently uses more than 200 plant extracts in its products, subsidizes a living museum of biodiversity in Saint-Ay, France, called the Herboretum, where skin soothing cornflower, protecting St. Mary&amp;#039;s thistle, purifying burdock, and cleansing soapwort flourish in a garden dubbed Beauty Square (fun fact: There&amp;#039;s also a Spell Square, which harbors such &amp;quot;magical&amp;quot; plants as bryony, hemlock, mandrake, and belladonna). For the brand&amp;#039;s researchers, it&amp;#039;s often what plants do for themselves that&amp;#039;s of interest\u2014after observing the way that delicate sunflower stalks hold up their heavy blossoms as they follow the sun across the sky, they isolated the molecule responsible and put it in a neck cream\u2014but the capabilities of many botanicals come as a complete surprise. &amp;quot;Often, we have no idea if a plant has any properties at all,&amp;quot; says Lionel de Benetti, Clarins&amp;#039; global head of research and development. &amp;quot;We have cultures of four types of skin cells in the laboratory\u2014 fibroblasts, adipocytes, keratinocytes, and melanocytes\u2014to which we systematically apply different extracts and then watch for activity. Depending upon which type of cell is affected, we can demonstrate if a plant is good for cell renewal, if it increases the production of collagen, or if it decreases the production of melanin.&amp;quot; While price in no way dictates potency\u2014 Aveeno&amp;#039;s Active Naturals Institute backs the brand&amp;#039;s affordable powerhouse products with some of the most extensive clinical data available on everything from feverfew, which, as a purified extract, packs 16 times more antioxidant punch than the much-buzzed-about CoffeeBerry, to grapeseed extract, which studies show can stabilize dermal collagen and elastin\u2014all active naturals are not created equally. As Declercq puts it, &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s like if someone told you all wines were the same: They&amp;#039;re not, but they all come from grapes.&amp;quot; There are a number of factors at work, from how the plants are harvested to how they&amp;#039;re processed and ultimately packaged. And it&amp;#039;s difficult to discern from a label whether or not, say, the green tea that a product contains is actually present in a sufficient quantity to prove efficacious. &amp;quot;For a consumer, it&amp;#039;s hard to tell whether something is a concentrated extract or not,&amp;quot; says Red Flower&amp;#039;s Alkalay. &amp;quot;Make sure that what you&amp;#039;re looking for is in the first few ingredients listed.&amp;quot; From a processing standpoint, some companies incorporate botanicals in as untouched a state as possible, while others refine them\u2014something that, a bit counterintuitively, can actually boost their efficacy. As technology grows more advanced, so too does the potential to create, in effect, super-naturals: Chanel&amp;#039;s patented Polyfractioning technique involves 12 steps of precise purification to enhance a botanical ingredient&amp;#039;s strength; while at Clarins, as de Benetti explains, &amp;quot;Sometimes plant extract contains several hundred molecules, and if we remove some of them, we deactivate it. But sometimes we can identify that there is only one molecule that is active, and in that case we isolate it and then try to introduce it in a bigger quantity in the product.&amp;quot; The implications of all this interest in phyto-power go beyond beauty: In efforts to sustainably produce the source plants that provide precious bioactive ingredients, companies are establishing programs that benefit local communities and global economies. &amp;quot;If we discover a new plant, we never take it from the forest,&amp;quot; says Xavier Ormancey, the Indiana Jones\u2013esque director of Chanel&amp;#039;s Cosm\u00E9tique Research Center. &amp;quot;We work with whoever owns the land\u2014it could be a village or a tribe or a group of farmers\u2014to establish a system of cultivation that will support them, while also taking care to encourage the preservation of knowledge and the preservation of biodiversity.&amp;quot; Certainly, what I witnessed in Samoa was inspiring: Due to The Body Shop&amp;#039;s introduction of fair trade, families who otherwise wouldn&amp;#039;t have been able to afford to do so were able to send children to school, and locals who would previously have been forced to leave the islands to find work were able to stay. Those jars of lotion may not have dazzled Sila, but for me, they contain something even more wonderful than virgin coconut oil: perspective. If it&amp;#039;s possible to be doing something good for mankind simply by using a product that works\u2014then hey, everybody wins.  Even now, experts believe, the field (literally) of active naturals remains largely untapped. &amp;quot;Not only are there thousands of plants that have yet to be tested for potential benefits to the skin, there are also parts of plants that we&amp;#039;re only beginning to look at. For example, we&amp;#039;ve been studying nuts and berries and fruits for a long time, but now we&amp;#039;re finding unique activities in the roots, stems, bark, and leaves,&amp;quot; Johnson &amp;amp;amp; Johnson&amp;#039;s Wallo says.  Origins&amp;#039; Declercq, meanwhile, reminds us that it&amp;#039;s always valuable to look to the future through the lens of the past. &amp;quot;Nature has undergone 3.8 billion years of research and development; modern science, only 367,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;Just think about it.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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