Crop genetic diversity results from various evolutionary forces including human selection. Domestication usually reduces genetic diversity of crops compared to their wild progenitors. Little is known about genetic diversity of chiles in a complex cultural environment. Chiles (Capsicum annuum L.) and ethnobotanical data were collected from 20 localities (9 states) in Mexico including populations from home-gardens, milpa, tropical deciduous forest and markets. Molecular analysis of two genes indicates similar levels of genetic diversity among 21 domesticated and 54 wild accessions. As suggested for other crops, traditional farmers might maintain and protect the diversity of the populations of chiles.

In 2003, I joined an ongoing ethnobiology research project in Guinea, West Africa. The orginial project was looking for new « medicines » via local plants that were identified and used by local healers. In the process of doing the study, the researchers developed strong relationships with some of the healers they interviewed. The conversations with the healers provoked many questions for the researchers about the social dimensions of the healer’s work as well as the efficacy of their plants. It was at this point, that I began working with the Guinean researchers. In this paper we would like to share the beginnings of our work on the social aspects of traditional healing. We interviewed traditional healers, elders, herbalists and other experts. Here we will focus on incantations, their roles and purpose in the healing practices of Maninka healing. The use of incantations by healers and the community is an very old practice for healing. Some users of medicinal plants question whether to use medicinal plants alone or with an incantation. We will describe several incantations, their use, how they were learned, and the implication of the incantation. As well as why incantations may still be utilized, when many acknowledge that the efficacy may be in the plant rather than the words.

Glottochronology and the comparative method of historical linguistics provide a linguistic approach for dating the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) that both complements and supplements archaeological dating techniques such as accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The comparative approach reveals that prehistoric languages of eastern North America having glottochronological dates earlier than 700 B.P. (before present) lacked words for bean and that those with glottochronological dates younger than 700 B.P. had terms for bean, this according with the AMS-finding that beans are not present in the region until around A.D. 1300. Linguistic findings for prehistoric languages of Mesoamerica suggest that the regional bean chronology is considerably older than that indicated through archaeological dating. A recently revealed AMS-dated archaeological bean from the region bears out the latter suggestion.

The collection and husbandry of wild American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) in the middle-Atlantic region of the eastern United States has roots that stretch back three centuries. My research continues to examine the cultural role of ginseng in the region and is articulating the mechanisms by which people continue to manage and manipulate this “wild” species. Research findings to date suggest that a complex suite of historical and contemporary husbandry practices are involved in modern “wild” ginseng occurrence and that these practices continue to obscure and complicate any distinction between “wild” and “domesticated.” The consequences of this situation for wild plant policy and management, as well as domestication theory, are profound and will be discussed.

The Kwakwaka’wakw of the Pacific Northwest once gathered ts’ats’ayem, Zostera marina L., Zosteraceae (eelgrass), rhizomes for food. Z. marina is a foundation species of estuarine regions, providing substrate and habitat for a diversity of organisms crucial to the marine food web. Currently, this angiosperm is in a worldwide decline. Contemporary elders recall harvesting considerable quantities of the plants every spring, and have suggested that ts’ats’ayem rhizomes grow thicker and the meadows more productive when sites are routinely harvested. This study examines ts’ats’ayem ethnoecology through interviews, harvesting expeditions and an in situ experiment to determine traditional methodology and inquire into the positive growth response to harvest.

Modern plant classification is based upon Linnaean determinants such as plant structure and sexual characteristics, which begs the question: to what extent did non-Western systems of plant classification use sexual characteristics of plants in their categorizations? Was plant fertilization understood as a sexual process, or was the concept of sexuality incorporated in other ways, for example, were certain plants dedicated to fertility deities? These questions were posed to me as an Aztec specialist, and this paper describes my efforts to recreate the Aztec system of plant classification in order to determine whether the concept of sexuality was applied by the Aztecs to the plant world. In order to understand Aztec plant classification as a system of knowledge, I used several sixteenth century Mexican herbals, trying to disentangle indigenous categories from the influence of contemporaneous European thinking upon native understanding of plant relationships. The results of my analysis reveal some interesting parallels between the Aztec and Linnaean plant classification systems, and that sex is but one of many and various criteria by which the Aztecs characterized the plants in their world.

Methods assessing the value of traditional ecological practices as contemporary conservation tools were developed in collaboration with two indigenous groups: the Q’eqchi’ Maya of Guatemala and the Miami Nation of the southern Great Lakes region of North America. Essential elements utilized in this assessment were ethnographies documenting traditional ecological practices and ethnoecological experiments quantifying effects of traditional practices on culturally important plant species. Qualitative and quantitative experimental results indicating positive autecological and synecological effects from traditional practices were used to identify culturally relevant conservation strategies.

In San Juan Gbëë, a Zapotec community in Oaxaca’s Sierra Sur, some 220 species of plants are reported to be in use to treat over 100 named illnesses. A significant element of the local pharmacopoeia are treatments for emotional or characterological disorders. Best known of these conditions is dzèb ‘fright’, related to syndromes recognized widely in Latin America as susto or espanto. Common symptoms include nightmares and loss of appetite as well as white blotches on the skin. A range of plants is prescribed, mostly as teas, to treat several distinct varieties of dzèb. Several are weeds of European origin while a number of others are native ferns.

Evaluating environmentally sustainable and culturally sensitive approaches to natural resource management issues is a necessary step towards improving livelihoods in rural South Africa. As part of a larger project initiated by the Centre for Rural Community Empowerment (University of Limpopo), this study assessed the applicability of various agroforestry practices to natural resource management issues in the village of GaMothiba located in the northwestern region of South Africa. Agroforestry assessments were carried out using a community-based approach through the application of rapid rural appraisal (RRA) and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods. These methods were chosen in order to assess the acceptability of agroforestry practices according to the perspective of the local people. The assessment process culminated in a variety of community designed agroforestry interventions, through which we found that acceptability of agroforestry practices is largely influenced by community cohesion, acceptance of indigenous species, land rights, and cooperation between traditional and municipal authorities. Understanding the opportunities and constraints of agroforestry adoption in rural sub-Saharan Africa furthers the movement towards community based natural resource management and ultimately a more sustainable approach to rural development.

This paper reports the results of an ethnomedical study conducted in 2005 in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan. Successive free lists revealed a broad range of ethnomedical knowledge about indigenous plants, including the ailment for which they are used, their mode of application, and preparation procedure. Supplemental ethnographic and ethnohistoric data revealed that proximity to modern health care facilities was a factor in the retention of knowledge and folk medical praxis. A strong correlation between age and ethnomedicinal knowledge was also found. A majority of the most commonly reported remedies are used to ease digestion and gastrointestinal pain, which is evidence of a persisting medical problem in Japanese society.

The hallucinogenic drink ‘ayahuasca’ taken by natives in the Peruvian Amazon owns its powerful effect mainly to the two plant species Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis when they are combined together. Brebaje palo is an alternative drink with similar hallucinogenic effect prepared with plants other than Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis. Research study has been conducted with Iquitos shamans who either use ayahuasca (ayahuasqeros) or brebaje palo (paleros) to understand the difference between the composition of the two drinks and the impact on the patients who take them.

In the paper we demonstrate the relationship between the conservation of marginal forest habitats and the revival of traditional knowledge of natural resources among the Western Cherokee. Interviews and participant-observation with key respondents in a three-county region of the Oklahoma Ozarks revealed an urgent need to protect delicate river bottom habitats, especially those adjacent to upland oak-hickory forests. These ecotones are shown to support river cane, bloodroot, shagbark hickory, and other species vital to the survival and continuity of Cherokee culture and craftsmanship. We suggest an applied longitudinal strategy that links community education with habitat restoration efforts to help safeguard threatened landscapes, native flora, and Cherokee expressive traditions for the benefit of present and future generations.

Some Brazilian Amazon forest dwellers collect and sell resin from various Burseraceae species. A study with Tembé Indians showed trees yield an average of 0.7 kg. and up to 11 kg. Weevil larvae stimulate resin flow by chewing into inner bark and develop inside resin lumps that accumulate on the bark for over a year. Stingless bees also collect resin from trees and resin drying in villages. Sustainable resin harvest, therefore, needs to consider interactions between trees, insects and people. Given local ecological and market conditions harvesters make just over half the minimum wage for collecting and selling this resin.

Non-directed successive Pile Sorting of 52 food items was used to explore the cultural domain of food in Morocco. Folk classification and folk taxonomies are often used to understand the ways that cultures conceptualize and classify cultural domains. In ethnobotany the cultural domains of wild, medicinal, and food plants are commonly explored. Pile Sorting is a simple method for studying cultural domains. Multi-dimensional-scaling and hierarchal cluster analysis revealed a high consensus among informants, and distinct clustering of food items based on culinary use of foods. These results help explain dietary patterns, and more specifically, change in dietary patterns in Morocco.

Archaeological investigations in East Crete indicate a shift from small villages in the Early Iron Age (1200–700 B.C.) to an urban center at Azoria in the Archaic period (ca. 700–600 B.C.). Food remains from several sites reveal concomitant shifts in farming and herding. In the Iron Age villages production and consumption were household activities. At Azoria, there is a shift to centralized storage and communal processing and consumption. Distribution of faunal and floral remains is locationally distinct and context specific. With the increasing social complexity of the Archaic polis, foodways became increasingly specialization and took on social-symbolic significance.

Based on an ethnobotanical investigation, the paper presents some preliminary findings about glutinous rice varieties among the Kam People in Guizhou, China. The paper discusses Kam taxonomy and nomenclature of rice varieties and Kam traditional knowledge of glutinous rice seed preservation. It also explicates how the forced extension of indica rice varieties as an “agricultural modernization” campaign has demonized Kam traditional glutinous rice culture and brought about endanger of the rice varieties and biodiversity. Relating traditional knowledge of glutinous seeds to its ethnographic context, the paper explores indigenous knowledge and cultural politics of glutinous rice seeds on China’s southwest frontier.