Approaches and Interests of Ethnobotanical Research

Abstract

Traditionally ethnobotanists around the world have been engaged in recording plants and the ways they are used by human populations (including therapeutic forms in the case of medicinal plants). This type of procedure has provided enormous progress in basic and applied research in the phytochemical and pharmacological fields, since ethnobotanists provided the resources for researchers in related fields and the set of data required for the intended analysis. In practice, the study of the interrelations between cultures and plants has received this kind of treatment. However, as already noted, the scenario has changed completely, and today we are interested in understanding additional aspects of these relations (see Pieroni et al. 2004; Vandebroek and Balick 2012; Reyes-García et al. 2013; Wolverton 2013; Wolverton et al. 2014). For example, what happens to the botanical knowledge of a cultural group when it migrates to other regions of its country or even to other countries? How does the knowledge of plant resources change in relation to socioeconomic variables (such as gender and age)? What can explain this variation? Who are the members of the community more likely to spread new information about useful plants or to have their information assimilated by the community? (Box 2.1, Fig. 2.1)