What does a ethnobotany do?
Ethnobotanists do fieldwork and lab research, working with indigenous groups to study their native plant life. Ethnobotanists gather samples and analyze them, record other data, and make reports.
Is ethnobotany an anthropologist?
Ethnobotany is usually defined as anthropological approach to botany. There are several methods of ethnobotanical research and those relevant to medicinal plants are archaeological search in literature, herbaria and the field studies. The link between anthropology and ethnobotany is simply human.
What is modern ethnobotany?
Modern ethnobotany is an interdisciplinary field drawing together scholars from anthropology, botany, archaeology, geography, medicine, linguistics, economics, landscape architecture, and pharmacology.
What is ethnobotany & What does an ethnobotanist study?
Ethnobotany is the study of how people of a particular culture and region make use of indigenous (native) plants. Plants provide food, medicine, shelter, dyes, fibers, oils, resins, gums, soaps, waxes, latex, tannins, and even contribute to the air we breathe.
What are ethnobotanical drugs?
Many important modern drugs like digitoxin, reserpine, tubocurarine, ephedrine, ergometrine, atropine, vinblastine and aspirin have been discovered by following leads from the folk uses [3].
What is the history of ethnobotany?
The term “ethnobotany” was first used by a botanist named John W. Harshberger in 1895 while he was teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. Although the term was not used until 1895, practical interests in ethnobotany go back to the beginning of civilization when people relied on plants as a way of survival.
What do we learn from ethnobotany?
True ethnobotany mixes cultural anthropology with biology, helping scientists learn more about the religious, culinary, and practical uses of plants in an area of a group of people. It takes field botany to another level by introducing the human condition to raw plant biology.
Who is father of Indian ethnobotany?
Dr. S. K. Jain
i) John Harshberger in 1895 coined the term ‘ethnobotany’. ii) Dr. S. K. Jain is known as the ‘father of Indian ethnobotany’.
Why is ethnobotanical study important?
Ethnobotanical study not only prevents misapprehension and misrep- resentation of observed facts, but is positively necessary in many instances to the correct diagnosis and explanation of ethnological facts, of the sym- bolism of objects used, and the significance of allusions in the text embodied in ceremonial ritual.
What is the difference between ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology?
Ethnobotanical studies generally result in the documentation of a rather limited set of well-documented useful plants, mostly medicinal, but also those known to be toxic or used in nutrition. In ethnopharmacology, an important goal is the development of improved preparations for use by local people.
What are the scope of Ethnomedicine?
Ethnomedicine deals with information pertaining to social adaptation, deviant behavior, illness, disease, medical taxonomy, folk medical knowledge, and systems of medical care. Some of the problems inherent in studying these issues are described.