Post on 20-Dec-2015
What is Ethnobotany?
• Ethnobotany is the study of plants used by primitive and aboriginal people. – John W. Harshberger 1895
What is Ethnobotany?
• A better definition is:
Ethnobotany is the study of the interactions of plants and people, including the influence of plants on human culture.
Oaxaca, Mexico
Two Aims of Ethnobotany Are:
1) To document facts about plant use and plant management
2) To elucidate the ethnobotanical text by defining, describing and investigating ethnobotanical roles and processes
- Janis Alcorn, 1995
Indigenous
• from the Latin – Indigena – native or long-adapted to an area
Traditional People Pakistan
How many years in residence does it take to become indigenous?
Navajo – 16th Century Ojibwa – about 1600 Maasai – late 17th Century
Why study use of plants by indigenous people?
1. The relationships between plants and people are often clearer in indigenous societies than in westernized societies
Collecting data in Polynesia
Why study use of plants by indigenous people?
2. Indigenous cultures may represent living analogues of the prehistorical stages of western civilization
Greek bas relief
Why study use of plants by indigenous people?
3. Indigenous cultures retain much knowledge concerning plants that western peoples have largely lost
Ethnobotany class sampling teas
Why study use of plants by indigenous people?
4. Indigenous peoples are stewards of some of the most sensitive ecosystems on earth
Amazonian Shaman
Why study use of plants by indigenous people?
5. Indigenous people are very vulnerable to rapid cultural and economic change - understanding traditional ways, including use of plants, can point to strategies to minimize negative consequences of that change
Native Australian Painting
Considering what a plant is good for leads to other questions
• Where does the plant normally occur?
• How is the plant cultivated?
• Can we combine natural occurrence and cultivation in a mutually beneficial system?