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Is there any way for Wakandan people to regrow the Heart-Shaped Herb after Killmonger burned them in Black Panther?

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  • What did Shuri do with the herb they gave to T'Challa when they found him. Maybe thete were seeds inside.
    – A.R.K
    Oct 20, 2018 at 9:22
  • Why is this question on-topic; isn't this purely asking for speculation?
    – Joachim
    Nov 17, 2022 at 6:45

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Is there any way for Wakandan people to regrow the Heart-Shaped Herb?

First, should we assume garden of the Heart-Shaped Herb is the only place to grow it?

I bet we shouldn't, first we should know how it came into existence:

“People who read the comics would be familiar with the Heart-Shaped Herb and the ceremonies that surround that,” Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said to Entertainment Weekly. “That’s partially spiritual. We certainly don’t call it magic, but there’s Vibranium that has been interwoven within that soil and that land for thousands of years, so there are other things going on with it.”- CBR

So we got lots of Vibranium and we have extra ordinarily talented T’Challa’s sister Shuri, so she might be a hope in regrowing the Heart-Shaped Herb again or we can assume in the whole of Wakanda, there might be other places where natural grown Heart-Shaped Herb exists there. But it will be all speculation until we see it in any sequel itself.

Or they can make synthetic one like comics :

When Erik Killmonger used the Heart-Shaped Herb his body reacted badly and poisoned him. After he barely recovered he used his scientific knowledge to create a synthetic version that would grant anyone the abilities of the Black Panther. He later allowed Kaspar Cole to use the synthetic version to gain powers similar to the Panther. - wikia

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    So what you're saying is that he should take a tip from the DEA and look for buildings with higher than expected power usage (running grow lights)....
    – user3067860
    May 7, 2018 at 21:56
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He had them burn what was currently growing in the ground. Anyone familiar with agriculture would know that doesn't preclude them having seeds and/or cuttings socked away for new plantings.

It is also fairly basic agriculture to have off-site storage of important seeds in case of emergency. They are called seed banks. I'd find it pretty hard to believe that the rest of us dumb humans know to do that, while the highly-advanced Wakandans hadn't figured out the need to do that with the one plant their entire culture revolves around that they are growing only in one small place.

None of this should have slowed Killmonger down, because growing fully-fruiting plants takes time. For example, grapevines usually take about three years to bear usable fruit. Nightshades (tomatoes and chilies) can mature in as little as 2-6 months, while Apples typically take 5-8 years. So while we (and likely Killmonger) don't know how long a new planting will take to bear fruit, burning all the currently producing plants should have given him more than enough breathing room to establish himself.

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    Great common sense answer, however I feel like it would be pretty anti-climactic if this is how it happens in the next movie. Unless they play it off as a joke that everyone should have known, as they've been doing more and more. We shall see!
    – Nacht
    May 7, 2018 at 23:23
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    To add a random additional tidbid to this answer - olive gardens. Ancient Greece had a big problem with those. They were growing olives a lot but an attacker could just go and burn them. It takes years for a new olive tree to start bearing fruit, so this could wreck economy, even if the attack is repelled. Also, later on during the Byzantine empire, the eastern parts were frequently raided by their neighbours. That's partly why people there mainly looked after livestock - you can just get all your sheep and retreat to the mountains but you cannot do the same with crops.
    – VLAZ
    May 8, 2018 at 12:47
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    @OrangeDog - Perhaps because it is prepared much like a herb is prepared (grinding and stewing). But TBF, more likely because that's what the comics call it, and in the comics all the pictures I could dig up indeed show them using a leaf rather than a fruit. I think the herb/fruit issue is one we are going to have to just give them dramatic leeway on (or move to a whole new question). For the purposes of this question, either way burning the plants would be a setback.
    – T.E.D.
    May 8, 2018 at 14:23
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    @TylerH what is obvious to you is not obvious to me. To me it is clearly not a fruit or a seed - it looks like a leaf or perhaps a petal.
    – OrangeDog
    May 8, 2018 at 14:29
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    @Luaan I'd pin that more on the fact that it's much easier to expand with fast growing plants; When you're settling a new area / adjust plot sizes for a growing population you don't want to be dependent on food imports for a decade until you can harvest your first handful of apples.
    – Cubic
    May 9, 2018 at 10:06
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Yes, but not naturally. The Wakandans were unable to naturally regrow the heart-shaped herb. What Killmonger ordered burned in Black Panther are the last of the Wakandan's naturally growing heart-shaped herbs.

In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, due to the lack of heart-shaped herbs, Shuri was unable to use the herb to cure T'Challa's illness.

M'Baku: That is because this wise council allowed Killmonger to take the throne and burn up all of your precious heart-shaped herb.

Shuri (to Killmonger): You burnt the herb, left us with no protector.

In the later part of Wakanda Forever, Shuri was finally able to recreate a synthetic heart-shaped herb by analyzing the fibers of the underwater plant from the bracelet K'uk'ulkan/Namor gave her. The underwater plant, like the heart-shaped herb, also grew because of the presence of vibranium in the soil.

Shuri: Let's start by running a comparative analysis between our attempts at creating a synthetic heart-shaped herb... And the fibers from this bracelet.
[…]
Since this was grown from vibranium-rich soil, they may share some base-level similarities that we can exploit.

Near the end of Wakanda Forever, it is revealed that there is now a new heart-shaped herb garden at Wakanda with several growing heart-shaped herbs, replacing the garden that Killmonger had ordered burned in Black Panther.

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