Ethnobotany

by Martin, Gary J.

• ISBN13: 9781844070848
• ISBN10: 1844070840
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

* The basic text and manual for this rapidly developing subject * Provides a detailed overview, explaining in a non-technical style the concepts, methods, and skills used * Re-issued to meet demand, in the "People and Plants Conservation Series" Ethnobotany is the study of the classification, use and management of plants by people. It draws on a range of disciplines, including natural and social sciences, to show how conservation of plants and of local knowledge about them can be achieved. Ethnobotany is critical to the growing importance of developing new crops and products such as drugs from traditional plants. This book is the basic introduction to the field, showing how botany, anthropology, ecology, economics, and linguistics are all employed in the techniques and methods involved. It begins by explaining data collection and hypothesis testing and ends with practical ideas on fieldwork ethics and the application of results to conservation and community development. Case studies illustrate the explanations, demonstrating the importance of collaboration in achieving results.

Author Biography

Gary Martin is Director of the Global Diversity Foundation and a Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Anthropology Department at the University of Kent at Canterbury.

Table of Contents

The 'People and Plants' Initiative
Alan Hamilton	x
International Panel of Advisers	xii
Internal Panel of Advisers	xiv
Foreword
Professor G.T. Prance	xvi
Preface	xvii
Introduction	xx
1 Data collection and hypothesis testing	1	(26)
1.1 Choosing an approach	2	(1)
1.2 Six disciplines which contribute to an ethnobotanical study	3	(1)
1.3 Rapid ethnobotanical appraisal	3	(4)
1.4 Planning a long-term project	7	(1)
1.5 Describing the field site	8	(2)
1.6 Ethnobotanical data	10	(8)
1.7 Visual aids	18	(1)
1.8 The law of diminishing returns	19	(4)
1.9 Hypothesis testing and theory	23	(4)
2 Botany	27	(40)
2.1 Collecting and identifying plants	28	(31)
2.2 Preparing an ethnobotanical reference collection	59	(1)
2.3 Herbaria and the curation of plant specimens	59	(2)
2.4 Judging the completeness of a plant survey	61	(6)
3 Ethnopharmacology and related fields	67	(28)
3.1 Proceeding with a phytochemical analysis	68	(9)
3.2 Screening	77	(4)
3.3 Collecting plants for phytochemical analysis	81	(8)
3.4 The ethics of searching for new plant products	89	(2)
3.5 Bringing phytochemistry back home	91	(4)
4 Anthropology	95	(42)
4.1 Talking with local people	96	(16)
4.2 Searching for ethnobotanical information in folklore	112	(4)
4.3 Surveys and analytical tools	116	(21)
5 Ecology	137	(34)
5.1 Describing microenvironments and quantifying their plant resources	138	(1)
5.2 Qualitative approaches	138	(17)
5.3 Bridging the gap between qualitative and quantitative approaches	155	(1)
5.4 Quantitative approaches	155	(16)
6 Economics	171	(30)
6.1 Economics and ethnobotany	172	(1)
6.2 The value of the environment	172	(1)
6.3 The value of forest products	173	(10)
6.4 Surveys of community and household economy	183	(8)
6.5 Local markets	191	(10)
7 Linguistics	201	(22)
7.1 Learning a local language	202	(1)
7.2 Collaborating with linguists	202	(1)
7.3 Where there is no linguist	203	(1)
7.4 Transcribing the local language	204	(1)
7.5 Linguistic analysis in ethnobotany	205	(8)
7.6 Free listing	213	(2)
7.7 Systematic surveys of local plant knowledge	215	(1)
7.8 Categories of ethnobiological classification	215	(3)
7.9 The correspondence between folk and scientific classification	218	(5)
8 Ethnobotany, conservation and community development	223	(30)
8.1 Applying traditional ecological knowledge	224	(1)
8.2 Ethnobotanical research and community development	224	(1)
8.3 Forests	225	(3)
8.4 Conservation of wild crop relatives and endangered useful plants	228	(3)
8.5 Education	231	(3)
8.6 Use of protected areas	234	(5)
8.7 The local perspective on ethnobotanical research	239	(12)
8.8 The path ahead	251	(2)
References	253	(8)
Further reading	261	(2)
Index	263