3. Origin of Ethnobotany
• Western sources(Written Tradition)
• Non-Western Sources
(Written Tradition)
• Oral Tradition
Dioscorides (originally in Greek, translated to
Syriac, Persian and Arabic)
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Sumer
Ancient China
Ayurveda & Rigveda
Buddhism
6. Relevance of ethnobotany in
Harvesting of Plants
• Most healers of Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh indicated that no plant
part should be removed until the plant is strong enough to withstand
the loss.
• Many healers, from Chhattisgarh believe that Saturday night is an
auspicious time for harvesting.
• Most of the healers have revealed that their shadow should not fall
on the plants while harvesting.
• Healers would never remove the bark in a circular fashion, avoiding a
ring shape or complete removal from the stem.
7. Relevance of ethnobotany in
Processing and Storage of Plants
• Indirectly helps in conservation because proper processing of plant
parts consumed less quantity of the plants and helped to ensure the
whole plant was not uprooted.
• Critical when preparing the herbal formulations from toxic plants.
• For eg, poisonous plant like Calotrophis procera (Aak), Gloriosa
superba (Kalihari) if taken orally, can be extremely dangerous for
humans and animals. However, if taken processed herb in small
quantity it will cure the diseases.
• Storage is done in earthern pots.
8. Herbal Drug Evaluation
By utilising the ethnobotanical knowledge of the already available
plants, herbal drugs can be evaluated.
For eg.
Evaluation of Analgesic (local anesthetic) activity of Heliopsis
longipes (Originated from Mexico) due to Isobutylamide
and affinin (spilanthol)
Identification of indole alkaloid Yuehchukene(YCK) from the plant
Murraya paniculata (used in China to regulate fertility).
Papaverine (smooth muscle relaxant) as basic analogue for
Verapamil(used to treat hypertension).
9. Modern Ethnobotany
• cultural beliefs
• plant and human ecological relationships
• ritual, ceremonial, and other uses of medicinal plants
• the role of the traditional healer, shaman, or other specialist
10. Skills required for Ethnobotanical study
• botanical training for the identification and preservation of plant
specimens; anthropological training to understand the
• cultural concepts around the perception of plants
• Linguistic training, at least enough to transcribe local terms
and understand native morphology, syntax and semantics.
17. Conclusions and Perspectives
• Has led to great development in health care.
• Loss of ethnic cultures and customs.
• Abundance of information but not compiled into usable form.
• Little interest in collection of information and primarily an academic
endeavour.
With current industrial technology i.e. mass screening will provide
drug at a greater rate than the already available ethnomedical
knowledge?
18. "Those who cannot remember the
past are condemned to repeat it"
-George Santayana
19. References
• "Ethnobotany of Natural products", D. D. Soejarto, C. Gyllenhaal, M. C. Riley and
H. Zhang
• "Ethnobotany: The Study of People–Plant Relationships", Nolan and Turner
• "Ethnobotany", Robert Voeks
• "Ethnobotany and Its Relevance in Contemporary Research", Ashok Pandey and
Yogesh Chandra Tripathi
• "The value of plants used in traditional medicine for drug discovery", Fabricant
and Farnsworth
• "The discovery of Artimisinin (quinghaosu)", Youyou Tu
