INTRODUCTION

This website is designed as an introduction to the ethnobotany of tropical medicinal plants, for undergraduates studying plant sciences, and anybody else that has an interest in the subject. It is not designed as an exhaustive resource but as a study aid to compliment the literature available.

There are approximately 300,000 species of higher plants in the world today. Over 30% of which, it has been estimated have been used in plant based remedies at some time.

Today millions of traditional peoples still use plants as sources of food, clothing, shelter, fuel and medicine. This knowledge has been gained by trial and error over the centuries and is priceless and irreplaceable.

Native peoples can tell you much about their local plants; for instance whether they are poisonous, useful for curing stomach upsets, good for roofing material (i.e. waterproof), or good fuels. They also know how to 'prepare' the plant for these uses, when and how to harvest it and which parts, and also when and where it grows. This invaluable knowledge is being lost by the destruction of these natural ecosystems and the acculturation of these traditional peoples.

In 1896 Dr. John W. Harshberger first defined the study of "plants used by primitive and aboriginal people" as ETHNOBOTANY. Since then the term has been broadened by many people.

In 1941 Jones described it as "The study of the interrelationships of primitive men and plants".

Schultes elaborated on this in 1967 to "the relationships between man and his ambient vegetation".

There is no definitive definition of ethnobotany at this time, but for the purposes of this website the favoured definition is, as stated by Plotkin in 1991,"the study of tribal peoples and their utilization of tropical plants".

Today ethnobotanists all over the world are racing against time to try and record data on economically useful plants by living and working with native peoples, and studying how they use plants.

An ethnobotanist is someone who studies the uses of plants for medicine, food, fibre, shelter, clothing, hunting and in religious ceremonies by traditional people.

It is a multidisciplinary science and ethnobotanists can be trained in anything from linguistics, anthropology, chemistry, sociology, pharmacology and ecology, this is usually on top of a biology/botany degree.

An ethnobotanist will study a certain culture or sub-culture and record any information on how those people use plants for certain things. They work closely with these people, often living amongst them for a few months at a time.

Information that needs to be collected by ethnobotanists for plants used as medicines for example, is how they are prepared, e.g.