ethnobotany
Cultural plant knowledge
Ethnobotany is the study of how different cultures use plants—for food, medicine, shelter, ritual, and craft.
The field sits at the intersection of botany and anthropology, documenting traditional knowledge that might otherwise be lost: Her ethnobotany research focused on medicinal plants used by Amazonian tribes.
Restoration of health
- remediesTreatments that restore health
- herbalismPlant-based healing tradition
- pharmacopoeiaOfficial drug reference guide
- tonicsSupposed health-boosting drinks
infusions · tinctures · apothecary · salves · poultice · therapeutics · antidotes · balm
Plants of a region
- herbariumPreserved plant specimen archive
- taxonomyScience of categorical arrangement
- cultivarBred plant variety
- endemicNative to one area
biodiversity · pollination · germination · propagation · specimens · wildcrafting · foraging · edible
Of a clan
- ancestralOf one's forebears
- nativeOriginating from a place
- aboriginalIndigenous to a place
- traditionalFollowing long-held customs
folk · autochthonous · elders · shamanism · ceremonies · rituals · folklore · customs
Recorded firsthand accounts
- classificationSystematic grouping by traits
- nomenclatureSystem of specialized terms
- seasonalityDependence on annual cycles
- harvestingGathering mature crops
cultivation · preparation · storage · transmission · apprenticeship · specialists · generational · biocultural
Range of life forms
- sustainabilityCapacity to endure indefinitely
- endangeredAt risk of extinction
- overharvestingUnsustainable resource extraction
- preservationMaintaining something's condition
revitalization · biopiracy · repatriation · agroecology · permaculture · restoration
Systematic study of peoples
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
- interviewsFormal evaluative conversations
- informantsPeople providing secret intelligence
- surveysSystematic information gathering
photography · notation · transcription · expeditions · collaboration · consent · reciprocity · archiving
healing
Restoration of health
- remediesTreatments that restore health
- herbalismPlant-based healing tradition
- pharmacopoeiaOfficial drug reference guide
tonics · infusions · tinctures · apothecary · salves · poultice · therapeutics · antidotes · balm · decoctions
flora
Plants of a region
- herbariumPreserved plant specimen archive
- taxonomyScience of categorical arrangement
- cultivarBred plant variety
endemic · biodiversity · pollination · germination · propagation · specimens · wildcrafting · foraging · edible · fibers
tribal
Of a clan
- ancestralOf one's forebears
- nativeOriginating from a place
- aboriginalIndigenous to a place
traditional · folk · autochthonous · elders · shamanism · ceremonies · rituals · folklore · customs · heritage
oral-history
Recorded firsthand accounts
- classificationSystematic grouping by traits
- nomenclatureSystem of specialized terms
- seasonalityDependence on annual cycles
harvesting · cultivation · preparation · storage · transmission · apprenticeship · specialists · generational · biocultural
biodiversity
Range of life forms
- sustainabilityCapacity to endure indefinitely
- endangeredAt risk of extinction
- overharvestingUnsustainable resource extraction
preservation · revitalization · biopiracy · repatriation · agroecology · permaculture · restoration
ethnography
Systematic study of peoples
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
- interviewsFormal evaluative conversations
- informantsPeople providing secret intelligence
surveys · photography · notation · transcription · expeditions · collaboration · consent · reciprocity · archiving
- academic fieldsmathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history
- natural historynatural history, natural history museum, naturalist, naturalists, natural philosophers
- anthropologyfieldwork, ethnography, paleoanthropology, archaeology, Margaret Mead
- botanyplants, plant biology, plant, plant anatomy, root
- ethnobotanyayahuasca, peyote, coca, coca leaf, cannabis
- folk medicinefolk medicine, herbalism, herbal remedies, folk healer, herbal medicine
ethnobotanyinorganic chemistry
Study of non-carbon-based compounds
astrophysics · particle physics · mineralogy · microbiology · virology
ethnic, botany, botanical, botanist, anthropology, ethnicity, botanic, ethnology, ethno