ethnobotany
Main
systematic study of the botanical knowledge of a social group and its use of locally available plants in foods, medicines, clothing, or religious rituals. Rudimentary drugs derived from plants used in folk medicines have been found to be beneficial in the treatment of many illnesses, both physical and mental. The ethnobotany of prehistoric cultures is discovered through examination of ancient writings, pictures, pottery, and plant remains in jars or midden heaps (garbage dumps) excavated at archaeological sites. From this information, the agricultural practices and cultural development of a people can be determined. Ethnobotanists often live for periods of time in the society they are studying, to observe all phases of their lives, including mythology, religious practices, and language, in order to determine the specific plants used and the methods involved in their preparation. Travelers’ journals, the field notes of early botanists, and other writings serve as sources of information about agricultural methods and folk remedies of the past.
Citations
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "ethnobotany" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.