Ethnobiology Around the World

Ethnobotany in St. David’s Parish, Dominica, West Indies

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	Agnes gathers indigenous West Indian bay (Pimenta racemosa, Myrtaceae) leaves to distil. Small-scale production of the spicy essential oil, used as a fragrance primarily in men’s cosmetics products, accounts for most of the cash income in Eastern Dominican villages like this one, where average annual income is about US$1900.
	Juranie Durand teaches his “nephew,” budding ethnobiologist Owen Quinlan, how to make a calabash bowl.
	Lilia drinks a strong “bush tea”. Dominican villagers largely take care of themselves with “bush medicine,” remedies made from either foraged plants or herbs grown around the house in small gardens and containers.
	A Dominican child’s exposure to “bush medicine” begins within her first months of life as her mother eases her diaper rash into a basin with soothing herbs, in this case koukouli (Momordica charantia L) crushed in warmed water.