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Ethnobotany of the AmericasTracer Bullet 97-1
Ethnobotany is a term coined in 1895 to encompass the study of the applications and economic potential of plants used by native peoples. During the first half of the 20th century the anthropological and ecological aspects of the use of plants by indigenous populations became increasingly important. However, it was during the second half of the 20th century that ethnobotany flourished and that ethnobotanical surveys, studies, and reports on explorations proliferated. These studies were fueled by the interests of major universities, pharmaceutical firms, and government agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, who greatly expanded their programs in natural products research in hopes of finding new medicines for a variety of ills, including cancer, diabetes, and disorders of the immune system.
Balick, Michael J. Transforming ethnobotany for the
new millennium. In St. Louis. Missouri Botanical Garden. Annals
of the Missouri Botanical Garden, v. 83, no. 1, 1996: 58-66.
Cox, Paul Alan, and Michael J. Balick. The ethnobotanical
approach to drug discovery. Scientific American, v. 270,
June 1994: 82-87. Harshberger, John W. The purposes of ethno-botany.
Botanical gazette, v. 21, Mar. 1896: 146-154. Rheingold, Howard. Ethnobotany and the search for
vanishing knowledge. Whole earth review, no. 89. Sept. 12,
1989: 16-23.
Subject Headings used by the Library of Congress or the National Library of Medicine, under which books on ethnobotany of South and North America can be located in most card, book, and online catalogs, include the following:
Balick, Michael J., and Paul Alan Cox. Plants,
people and culture: the science of ethnobotany. New York, Scientific
American Library, c1996. 228 p. (Scientific American Library series,
no. 60) Cotton, C. M. Ethnobotany: principles and applications.
Chichester, Eng., New York, John Wiley & Sons, c1996. 424 p.
Erichsen-Brown, Charlotte. Use of plants for the
past 500 years. Aurora, Ont., Breezy Creeks Press, c1979. 510
p. Ethnobotany: evolution of a discipline. Edited
by Richard Evans Schultes and Siri von Reis. Portland, Or., Dioscorides
Press, c1995. 414 p. Martin, Gary J. Ethnobotany: a methods manual.
London, New York, Chapman & Hall, 1995. 268 p. (People and plant
conservation manuals, v. 1) The Nature and status of ethnobotany. Edited
by Richard I. Ford, with a new introduction by Richard I. Ford.
2nd ed. Ann Arbor, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan,
1994. 428 p. (Anthropological papers, no. 67) Weiner, Michael A. Earth medicine--earth food:
plant remedies, drugs, and natural foods of the North American Indians.
lst Ballantine Books ed., rev. & expanded. New York, Ballantine
Books, c1991. 230 p.
Castetter, Edward Franklin. Uncultivated native
plants used as sources of food. Albuquerque, University of New
Mexico, 1935. 62 p. (Ethnobiological studies in the American Southwest,
1) (University of New Mexico bulletin, whole no. 266. Biological
series, v. 4, no. 1) Densmore, Frances. How Indians use wild plants
for food, medicine, and crafts. New York, Dover, 1974. 119 p.
Reprint of Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians from the 44th
Annual report (1926/27) of the U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology,
p. 279-397. Herrick, James W. Iroquois medical botany.
Edited with a foreword by Dean R. Snow. Syracuse, N.Y., Syracuse
University Press, 1995. 278 p. Johnston, A. Plants and the Blackfoot. Lethbridge,
Alta., Lethbridge Historical Society, Historical Society of Alberta,
1987. 68 p. (Lethbridge Historical Society. Occasional paper, no.
15) Medicinal resources of the tropical forest: biodiversity
and its importance to human health. Edited by Michael J. Balick,
Elaine Elisabetsky, Sarah A. Laird. New York, Columbia University
Press, c1996. 440 p. New directions in the study of plants and people:
research contributions from the Institute of Economic Botany.
Ghillean T. Prance and Michael J. Balick, editors. Bronx, N.Y.,
New York Botanical Garden, 1990. 278 p. (Advances in economic botany,
v. 8) Niethammer, Carolyn J. American Indian food and
lore. New York, Macmillan, 1974. 191 p. Schultes, Richard Evans, and Robert F. Raffauf. The
healing forest: medicinal and toxic plants of the northwest Amazonia.
Portland, Or., Dioscorides Press, c1990. 484 p. (Historical, ethno- & economic botany series, v. 2) Scully, Virginia. A treasury of American Indian
herbs: their lore and their use for food, drugs, and medicine.
New York, Crown Publishers, 1970. 306 p. Vogel, Virgil J. American Indian medicine.
Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1970. 583 p. (The Civilization
of the American Indian series, 95) Expanded version of the author's
thesis, University of Chicago.
Berlin, Brent. Ethnobiological classification:
principles of categorization of plants and animals in traditional
societies. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, c1992.
335 p. Davis, Wade. One river: explorations and discoveries
in the Amazon rain forest. New York, Simon & Schuster, c1996.
537 p. Cole, John N. Amaranth, from the past for the future.
Emmaus, Pa., Rodale Press, c1979. 311 p. Duke, James A. The green pharmacy: new discoveries
in herbal remedies for common diseases and conditions from the world's
foremost authority on healing herbs. Emmaus, Pa., Rodale Press;
New York, Distributed in the book trade by St. Martin's Press, c1997.
507 p. Eating on the wild side: the pharmacologic, ecologic,
and social implications of using noncultigens. Nina L. Etkin,
editor. Tucson, University of Arizona Press, c1994. 305 p. Grime, William Ed. Ethno-botany of the Black Americans.
Algonac, Mich., Reference Publications, l979. 237 p. Johns, Timothy. With bitter herbs they shall eat
it: chemical ecology and the origins of human diet and medicine.
Tucson, University of Arizona Press, c1990. 356 p. Tyler, Varro E. The honest herbal: a sensible guide
to the use of herbs and related remedies. 3rd ed. New York,
Pharmaceutical Products Press, 1992. 375 p.
NORTH AMERICA Ethnobotany of the Nitinaht Indians of Vancouver
Island, by Nancy J. Turner and others. Victoria, B.C., Province
of British Columbia, Ministry of Provincial Secretary and Govt.
Services, Provincial Secretary, Govt. of Canada, Parks Canada, Western
Region, c1983. 165 p. (Occasional papers of the British Columbia
Provincial Museum, no. 24) Gilmore, Melvin R. Uses of plants by the Indians
of the Missouri River region. Enl. ed. Lincoln, University of
Nebraska Press, 1991. 125 p. Revision of the author's thesis, University
of Nebraska, 1914. Hart, Jeff. Montana--native plants and early peoples.
Researched and written by Jeff Hart. Helena, Montana Historical
Society Press, 1992. 75 p. Holmes, Walter C. Flore louisiane: an ethno-botanical
study of French-speaking Louisiana. Lafayette, La., Center for
Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana, c1990.
145 p. Kindscher, Kelly. Medicinal wild plants of the
prairie: an ethnobotanical guide. Lawrence, University Press
of Kansas, c1992. 340 p. King, Frances B. Plants, people, and paleoecology:
biotic communities and aboriginal plant usage in Illinois. Springfield,
Ill., Illinois State Museum, 1984. 224 p. (Illinois State Museum.
Scientific papers, v. 20) Krauss, Beatrice H. Ethnobotany of the Hawaiians.
Honolulu, Harold L. Lyon Arboretum, University of Hawaii, 1975.
32 p. (Harold L. Lyon Arboretum lecture, no. 5) Kuhnlein, Harriet V., and Nancy J. Turner. Traditional
plant foods of Canadian indigenous peoples: nutrition, botany, and
use. Philadelphia, Gordon and Breach, c1991. 633 p. (Food and
nutrition in history and anthropology, v. 8) Mead, George R. The ethnobotany of the California
Indians: a compendium of the plants, their users, and their uses.
Greeley, Museum of Anthropology, University of Northern Colorado,
1972- (Occasional publications in anthropology. Ethnology series,
no. 30, etc.) Moore, Michael. Medicinal plants of the mountain
West: a guide to the identification, preparation, and uses of traditional
medicinal plants found in the mountains, foothills, and upland areas
of the American West. Santa Fe, N.M., Museum of New Mexico Press,
c1979. 200 p. Turner, Nancy J. Food plants of coastal First Peoples.
Vancouver, UBC Press, c1995. 164 p. First published as Food Plants
of British Columbia Indians. Pt. 1. Coastal Peoples. British Columbia
Provincial Museum, 1975. (Handbook, no. 34) Stevenson, Matilda Coxe. The Zuni Indians and their
uses of plants. New York, Dover, 1993. 68 p. Thompson ethnobotany: knowledge and usage of plants
by the Thompson Indians of British Columbia. Nancy J. Turner
and others. Victoria, Royal British Columbia Museum, 1990. 335 p.
(Royal British Columbia Museum. Memoir, no. 3) Balee, William L. Footprints of the forest: Ka'apor
ethnobotany--the historical ecology of plant utilization by an Amazonian
people. New York, Columbia University Press, c1994. 396 p. Bastien, Joseph William. Healers of the Andes:
Kallawaya herbalists and their medicinal plants. Salt Lake City,
University of Utah Press, 1987. 198 p. Mahabir, Noor Kumar. Medicinal and edible plants
used by East Indians of Trinidad & Tobago. 2nd ed. Trinidad,
W.I., Chakra Pub. House, 1991. 166 p. Morton, Julia Frances. Atlas of medicinal plants
of Middle America: Bahamas to Yucatan. Springfield, Ill, Thomas,
c1981. 1420 p. Plotkin, Mark J. Tales of a shaman's apprentice:
an ethnobotanist searches for new medicines in the Amazon rain forest.
New York, Viking, 1993. 318 p. Seaforth, C. E. Natural products in Caribbean folk
medicine. St. Augustine, Trinidad, W.I., University of the West
Indies, c1988. 140 p. Schultes, Richard Evans. Where the gods reign:
plants and peoples of the Colombian Amazon. Oracle, Ariz., Synergetic
Press, c1988. 306 p.
Boyle, Wade. Official herbs: botanical substances
in the United States pharmacopoeias, 1820-1990. East Palestine,
Ohio, Buckeye Naturopathic Press, c1991. 77 p. Heiser, Charles Bixler, Jr. Seed to civilization:
the story of food. New ed. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University
Press, 1990. 228 p. Hiles, Harold T. Guide to protein and nutritional
values of plants used by Native Americans of the Southwest.
Fairacres, N.M., H. T. Hailes, c1993. 119 p. Kavasch, E. Barrie. Native harvests: recipes and
botanicals of the American Indian. New York, Vintage Books,
1979. 202 p. Nabhan, Gary Paul. Enduring seeds: Native American
agriculture and wild plant conservation. San Francisco, North
Point Press, 1989. 225 p. Prehistoric food production in North America.
Edited by Richard I. Ford. Ann Arbor, Museum of Anthropology, University
of Michigan, 1985. 411 p. (Anthropological papers, no. 75)
Duke, James. A. Handbook of northeastern Indian
medicinal plants. Lincoln, Mass., Quarterman Publications, c1986.
212 p. (Bioactive plants, v. 3) Duke, James A., and Rodolfo Vasquez. Amazonian
ethnobotanical dictionary. Boca Raton, Fla., CRC Press, c1994.
215 p. Handbook of Latin American studies. 1935- Austin,
University of Texas. Hutchens, Alma R. A handbook of native American
herbs. Boston, Shambhala; New York, Distributed in the U.S.
by Random House, 1992. 256 p. Lyon, William S. Encyclopedia of Native American
healing. Santa Barbara, Calif., ABC-CLIO, c1996. 373 p. Moerman, Daniel E. American medical ethnobotany:
a reference dictionary. New York, Garland Pub., 1977. 527 p.
(Garland reference library of social science, v. 34) Ratsch, Christian. The dictionary of sacred and
magical plants. Translated by John Baker. Santa Barbara, Calif.,
ABC-CLIO, 1992. 223 p. Selected guidelines for ethnobotanical research:
a field manual. Edited by Miguel N. Alexiades, with assistance
from Jennie Wood Sheldon. Bronx, N.Y., New York Botanical Garden,
1996. 306 p. Von Reis, Siri. Drugs and foods from little-known
plants; notes in Harvard University herbaria. Cambridge, Mass.,
Harvard University Press, 1973. 366 p.
Ethnobotany and the search for new drugs. G. T. Prance,
Derek J. Chadwick (organizer) and Joan Marsh. Chichester, Eng.,
New York, Wiley, 1994. 280 p. (Ciba Foundation symposium, 185) Ethnobotany in the Neotropics Symposium (1983, Oxford.
Ohio). Ethnobotany in the neotropics: proceedings. ... Society
for Economic Botany, 13-14, June 1983, Oxford, Ohio. Edited by G.
T. Prance & J. A. Kallunki. Bronx, N.Y., New York Botanical Garden.
1984. 156 p. (Advances in economic botany, v. 1) Ethnopharmacologic search for psychoactive drugs.
Daniel H. Efron, editor-in-chief, Bo Holmstedt, co-editor, Nathan
S. Kline, co-editor. New York, Raven Press, 1979. 468 p. European Symposium on Ethnopharmacology (1st, 1990,
Metz, France). Ethnopharmacologie, sources, methodes, objectifs:
actes du 1er Colloque europeen d'ethnopharmacologie, Metz, Centre
international des congres, 23-25 mars 1990. Organise par Societe
francaise d'ethnopharmacologie. Textes reunis et presentes par Jacques
Fleurentin ... et al. Paris, Editions de l'ORSTOM; Metz, Societe
francaise d'ethnopharmacologie, 1991. 493 p. Sustainable harvest and marketing of rain forest
products. Edited by Mark Plotkin and Lisa Famolare. Washington,
Island Press, c1992. 325 p.
Dissertations can be located by using the following print indexes located in the Library's Main Reading Room, or on CD-ROM and/or online: Comprehensive Dissertation Index 1861/1972- (1973- annual) Z5053.X47 1973
Selected Dissertations available in the Microform Reading Room: Benzecry, Alice. Ethnobotany, anatomy and taxonomy
of five tropical lianas of Coto Brus. Ann Arbor, University
Microfilms, 1994. 2 microfiche, 4 x 6 in. Laferriere, Joseph E. Optimal use of ethnobotanical
resources by the Mountain Pima of Chihuahua, Mexico. Ann Arbor,
University Microfilms, 1991. 3 microfiche, 4 x 6 in. Mallory, Jane Maureen. Common medicinal ethnobotany
of the major ethnic groups in the Toledo district of Belize, Central
America. Ann Arbor, University Microfilms, 1991. 3 microfiche,
4 x 6 in. Marles, Robert James. The ethnopharmacology of
the lowland Quichua of eastern Ecuador. Ann Arbor, University
Microfilms, 1989. 3 microfiche, 4 x 6 in. Mead, George R. The Indians of the Redwood Belt
of California: an ethnobotanical approach to culture area. Ann
Arbor, University Microfilms, 1971. 1 microfilm reel. 35 mm.
Irvine, F. R. Bibliography of wild food plants
of Canadian Indians. Washington, Bureau of American Ethnology,
Smithsonian Institution, 1963. 13 p. Irvine, F. R. Bibliography of wild food plants
of United States Indians. Washington, Bureau of American Ethnology,
Smithsonian Institution, 1959. 26 p. Lynas, Lothian. Medicinal and food plants of North
American Indians: a bibliography. New York, Library of the New
York Botanical Garden, 1972. 21 p. Meil, Joanne, comp. New world plants and their
uses: a guide to selected literature and genetic resources, 1980-1993.
Beltsville, Md., National Agricultural Library, 1993. 38 p. McCarthy, Susan A. Ethnobotany and medicinal plants.
Beltsville, Md., National Agricultural Library, 1992. 2 v. (Quick
bibliography series, QB92- 66, QB(93-02) Robson, John R. K., and Joel N. Elias. The nutritional
value of indigenous wild plants: an annotated bibliography.
Troy, N.Y., Whitston Pub. Co., 1978. 232 p.
Journals that often contain relevant articles inlcude the following:
Anderson, M. Kat. The ethnobotany of deergrass, Muhlenbergia
rigens (Poaceae): its uses and fire management by California Indian
tribes. Economic botany, v. 50, Oct./Dec. 1996: 409-422.
Gilmore, Melvin R. Importance of ethnobotanical investigation.
American anthropologist, v. 34, Apr./June 1932: 320-327.
Hosler, Denise M., and Michael A Mikita. Ethnobotany:
the chemist's source for the identification of useful natural products.
Journal of chemical education, v. 64, Apr. 1987: 328-332.
Kendler, Barry S., Helen G. Koritz, and Arnold Gibaldi.
Introducing students to ethnobotany. American biology teacher,
v. 54, Jan. 1992: 46-50. Laferriere, Joseph E., and Terence E. Hays. Recent
doctoral dissertations of interest to ethnobiologists XIII. Journal
of ethnobiology, v. 15, winter 1995: 281-286. Longuefosse, Jean-Louis, and Emmanuel Nossin. Medical
ethnobotany survey in Martinique. Journal of ethnopharmacology,
v. 53, Sept. 1996: 117-142. McClung de Tapia, Emily. A perspective on Mexican
ethnobotany. Journal of ethnobiology, v. 10, winter 1990:
141-147. Milliken, William, and Bruce Albert. The use of medicinal
plants by the Yanomami Indians of Brazil. Economic botany,
v. 50, Jan./Mar. 1996: 10-25. Mont, Juan Jose Castillo, Negli Rene Gallardo, and
Dennis V. Johnson. The Pacaya palm (Chamaedorea tepejilote, Arecaceae)
and its food use in Guatemala. Economic botany, v. 48, Jan./Mar.
1994: 68-75. Phillips, O., and others. Quantitative ethnobotany
and Amazonian conservation. Conservation biology, v. 8, Mar.
1994: 225-248. Schmeda-Hirschmann, Guillermo. Plant resources used
by the Ayoreo of the Paraguayan Chaco. Economic botany, v.
48, July/Sept. 1994: 252-258. Schultes, Richard Evans. Plants in treating senile
dementia in the northwest Amazon. Journal of ethnopharmacology,
v. 38, Mar. 1993: 129-135. Yano, Lester I. Protection of the ethnobiological
knowledge of indigenous peoples. UCLA law review, v. 41,
Dec. 1993: 443-486.
Selected Materials available in the Science Reading Room pamphlet box to accompany this title include: Abbott, Isabella A. Ethnobotany of seaweeds: clues to uses of seaweeds. Hydrobiologia, v. 326/327, July 26, 1996: 15-20. Begossi, Alpina. Use of ecological methods in ethnobotany: diversity indices. Economic botany, v. 50, July/Sept. 1996: 280-289. Bennett, Bradley C. Plants and people of the Amazonian rainforests: the role of ethnobotany in sustainable development. BioScience, v. 42, Sept. 1992: 599-607. Farnsworth, Norman R. Ethnopharmacology and future drug development: the North American experience. Journal of ethnopharmacology, v. 38, Mar. 1993: 145-152. Flores, Jose Salvador, and Rita Vermont Ricalde. The secretions and exudates of plants used in Mayan traditional medicine. Journal of herbs, spices & medicinal plants, v. 4, no. 1, 1966: 53-59. Kahn, E. J., Jr. Jungle botanist: Richard Evans Schultes profile. New Yorker, v. 68, June 1, 1992: 35-57. McKenna, Dennis. Plant wisdom resources. Whole earth review, no. 64, fall 1989: 48-49. Montgomery, Rob. Ethnobotanical research field kit. Whole earth review, no. 64, fall 1989: 30-31. Motley, Timothy J. The ethnobotany of sweet flag, Acorus calamus (Araceae). Economic botany, v. 48, Oct./Dec. 1994: 397-412. Roach, Mary. Secrets of the shamans. Discover, v. 14, Nov. 1993: 58- 65. Schultes, Richard E. Ethnobotany and technology in the north-west Amazon: example of a partnership. Environmental conservation, v. 18, no. 3, 1991: 264-267. Van Gils, Carl., and Paul A. Cox. Ethnobotany of nutmeg in the Spice Islands. Journal of ethnopharmacology, v. 42, Apr. 1994: 117-124. Willis, Lynn. Touring the Internet: sites for information on chemical technology and innovation. ChemTech. v. 27, Jan. 1997: 19-20. Includes a section on ethnobotany. Waller, Donald P. Methods in ethnopharmacology. Journal of ethnopharmacology, v. 38, Mar. 1993: 189-195.
Ethnobotany Specialist Group Compiled August 1997 |
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