Articles

Analysing ethnobotanical and fishery-related importance of mangroves of the East-Godavari Delta (Andhra Pradesh, India) for conservation and management purposes

Mangrove forests, though essentially common and wide-spread, are highly threatened. Local societies along with their knowledge about the mangrove also are endangered, while they are still underrepresented as s...

Authors: F Dahdouh-Guebas, S Collin, D Lo Seen, P Rönnbäck, D Depommier, T Ravishankar and N Koedam

Traditional use of the Andean flicker (Colaptes rupicola) as a galactagogue in the Peruvian Andes

This paper explores the use of the dried meat and feathers of the Andean Flicker (Colaptes rupicola) to increase the milk supply of nursing women and domestic animals in the Andes. The treatment is of preColumbia...

Authors: Steve Froemming

Plant use of the Maasai of Sekenani Valley, Maasai Mara, Kenya

Traditional plant use is of tremendous importance in many societies, including most rural African communities. This knowledge is however, rapidly dwindling due to changes towards a more Western lifestyle, and ...

Authors: Rainer W Bussmann, Genevieve G Gilbreath, John Solio, Manja Lutura, Rumpac Lutuluo, Kimaren Kunguru, Nick Wood and Simon G Mathenge

Evaluating indices of traditional ecological knowledge: a methodological contribution

New quantitative methods to collect and analyze data have produced novel findings in ethnobiology. A common application of quantitative methods in ethnobiology is to assess the traditional ecological knowledge...

Authors: Victoria Reyes-García, Vincent Vadez, Susan Tanner, Thomas McDade, Tomás Huanca and William R Leonard

Local knowledge in community-based approaches to medicinal plant conservation: lessons from India

Community-based approaches to conservation of natural resources, in particular medicinal plants, have attracted attention of governments, non governmental organizations and international funding agencies. This...

Authors: Shailesh Shukla and James Gardner

Ethnotaxonomy of mastofauna as practised by hunters of the municipality of Paulista, state of Paraíba-Brazil

It was aimed in the present work to report aspects related to identification, naming and categorization of the mastofauna species of the caatinga biome, according to hunters' knowledge of Northeast Brazil. The...

Authors: José S Mourão, Helder FP Araujo and Fabiana S Almeida

Wild Alliumspecies (Alliaceae) used in folk medicine of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

Hitherto available sources from literature mentioned several wild growing Allium species as "edible" or "medicinally used" but without any further specification.

Authors: Michael Keusgen, Reinhard M Fritsch, Hikmat Hisoriev, Parvina A Kurbonova and Furkat O Khassanov

Farmers' perception on the importance of variegated grasshopper (Zonocerus variegatus (L.)) in the agricultural production systems of the humid forest zone of Southern Cameroon

Zonocerus variegatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae) is known as an agricultural pest in West and Central Africa. However, its importance in the agricultural production system in Cameroon has not be...

Authors: Sévilor Kekeunou, Stephan Weise, Jean Messi and Manuel Tamò

Circum-Mediterranean cultural heritage and medicinal plant uses in traditional animal healthcare: a field survey in eight selected areas within the RUBIA project

During the years 2003–2005, a comparative ethnobotanical field survey was conducted on remedies used in traditional animal healthcare in eight Mediterranean areas. The study sites were selected within the EU-f...

Authors: Andrea Pieroni, Maria Elena Giusti, Caterina de Pasquale, Cinzia Lenzarini, Eleonora Censorii, María Reyes Gonzáles-Tejero, Cristina Patricia Sánchez-Rojas, Jose M Ramiro-Gutiérrez, Melpomeni Skoula, Chris Johnson, Anaya Sarpaki, Athena Della, Demetra Paraskeva-Hadijchambi, Andreas Hadjichambis, Mohammed Hmamouchi, Said El-Jorhi…

Medicinal plants popularly used in the Xingó region – a semi-arid location in Northeastern Brazil

The aim of this study was to identify plant species among the diverse flora of the caatinga ecosystem that are used therapeutically. Research was undertaken in the municipalities of Piranhas and Delmiro Gouveia, ...

Authors: Cecília de Fátima CBR Almeida, Elba Lúcia Cavalcanti de Amorim, Ulysses Paulino de Albuquerque and Maria Bernadete S Maia

Traditional use of medicinal plants among the tribal communities of Chhota Bhangal, Western Himalaya

The importance of medicinal plants in traditional healthcare practices, providing clues to new areas of research and in biodiversity conservation is now well recognized. However, information on the uses for pl...

Authors: Sanjay Kr Uniyal, KN Singh, Pankaj Jamwal and Brij Lal

Some Lithuanian ethnobotanical taxa: a linguistic view on Thorn Apple and related plants

The perception and use of plants correspond with common plant names. The study of plant names may give insight into historical and recent use of plants.

Authors: Daiva Šeškauskaitė and Bernd Gliwa

Changes in farmers' knowledge of maize diversity in highland Guatemala, 1927/37-2004

Small-scale studies on long-term change in agricultural knowledge might uncover insights with broader, regional implications. This article evaluates change in farmer knowledge about crop genetic resources in h...

Authors: Jacob van Etten

Healing with animals in the Levant from the 10^th to the 18^th century

Animals and products derived from different organs of their bodies have constituted part of the inventory of medicinal substances used in various cultures since ancient times. The article reviews the history o...

Authors: Efraim Lev

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine – achievements and perspectives

Last summer we officially launched the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, published by BioMedCentral, with the aim of establishing a serious, peer-reviewed, open-access online journal that focuses on the ...

Authors: Andrea Pieroni

Household dyeing plants and traditional uses in some areas of Italy

This paper reports the results of investigations carried out from 1977 to today in some areas of Italy (Latium, Marche, Abruzzo and to a limited extent in Sardinia) concerning traditional uses of dyeing plants...

Authors: Paolo Maria Guarrera

Diversity and utilization of antimalarial ethnophytotherapeutic remedies among the Kikuyus (Central Kenya)

Plants in Kenya are becoming increasingly important as sources of traditional medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that malaria kills about 2.7 million people every year, 90% of who are...

Authors: Grace N Njoroge and Rainer W Bussmann

Kenyan medicinal plants used as antivenin: a comparison of plant usage

The success of snake bite healers is vaguely understood in Kenya, partly due to their unknown materia medica and occult-mystical nature of their practice. A comparison is made of plants used in snake bite trea...

Authors: Bethwell O Owuor and Daniel P Kisangau

Use and traditional management of Anadenanthera colubrina(Vell.) Brenan in the semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil

The use and management of "angico" (Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.) Brenan) by a rural community in northeastern Brazil was examined. By employing different techniques of data collection and population structure ...

Authors: Júlio Marcelino Monteiro, Cecília de Fátima CB Rangel de Almeida, Ulysses Paulino de Albuquerque, Reinaldo Farias Paiva de Lucena, Alissandra Trajano N Florentino and Rodrigo Leonardo C de Oliveira

How sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) was perceived in some rural communities after phasing out chloroquine (CQ) as a first-line drug for uncomplicated malaria in Tanzania: lessons to learn towards moving from monotherapy to fixed combination therapy

Malaria is a leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa. Tanzania changed its malaria treatment policy from chloroquine (CQ) to Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP) as first line drug in August 2001. We wanted to...

Authors: Stephen ED Nsimba

Ethno-diversity within current ethno-pharmacology as part of Israeli traditional medicine – A review

The Holy Land has absorbed millions of immigrants in recent centuries: Jews from East and West, Druze, Circassians, Muslim and Christian Arabs. The land is unique and diverse in geographical location and ethni...

Authors: Efraim Lev

Process and dynamics of traditional selling wild edible mushrooms in tropical Mexico

More than twelve temperate-inhabitant Mexican ethnic groups are considered to be mycophilic and to have extensive traditional mycological knowledge. In contrast, inhabitants of tropical lands have been studied...

Authors: Felipe Ruán-Soto, Roberto Garibay-Orijel and Joaquín Cifuentes

Parental use of the term "Hot Qi" to describe symptoms in their children in Hong Kong: a cross sectional survey "Hot Qi" in children

The Chinese term "Hot Qi" is often used by parents to describe symptoms in their children. The current study was carried out to estimate the prevalence of using the Chinese term "Hot Qi" to describe symptoms i...

Authors: Flora Y Kong, Daniel K Ng, Chung-hong Chan, Wan-lan Yu, Danny Chan, Ka-li Kwok and Pok-yu Chow

The lunar-tide cycle viewed by crustacean and mollusc gatherers in the State of Paraíba, Northeast Brazil and their influence in collection attitudes

Traditional human communities have a wide knowledge of their environment. Collection of animals in estuarine and coastal areas are directly influenced by tidal cycles. The aim of this study is to evaluate the ...

Authors: Alberto K Nishida, Nivaldo Nordi and Rômulo RN Alves

Fishers' knowledge and seahorse conservation in Brazil

From a conservationist perspective, seahorses are threatened fishes. Concomitantly, from a socioeconomic perspective, they represent a source of income to many fishing communities in developing countries. An i...

Authors: Ierecê ML Rosa, Rômulo RN Alves, Kallyne M Bonifácio, José S Mourão, Frederico M Osório, Tacyana PR Oliveira and Mara C Nottingham

Ethnomedicinal botany of the Apatani in the Eastern Himalayan region of India

This paper investigates the wealth of medicinal plants used by the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. Apatani have traditionally settled in seven villages in the Ziro valley of Lower Subansiri district of Aru...

Authors: Chandra Prakash Kala

Environmental perception of gatherers of the crab 'caranguejo-uçá' (Ucides cordatus, Decapoda, Brachyura) affecting their collection attitudes

Authors: Rômulo RN Alves, Alberto K Nishida and Malva IM Hernández

Knowledge and use of medicinal plants by local specialists in an region of Atlantic Forest in the state of Pernambuco (Northeastern Brazil)

The study of local knowledge about natural resources is becoming increasingly important in defining strategies and actions for conservation or recuperation of residual forests. This study therefore sought to: ...

Authors: Luiz Rodrigo Saldanha Gazzaneo, Reinaldo Farias Paiva de Lucena and Ulysses Paulino de Albuquerque

The ethnobotany of Christ's Thorn Jujube (Ziziphus spina-christi) in Israel

This article surveys the ethnobotany of Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Desf. in the Middle East from various aspects: historical, religious, philological, literary, linguistic, as well as pharmacological, among Musl...

Authors: Amots Dafni, Shay Levy and Efraim Lev

Ethnopharmacological survey of different uses of seven medicinal plants from Mali, (West Africa) in the regions Doila, Kolokani and Siby

An ethnopharmacological survey was carried out to collect information on the use of seven medicinal plants in rural areas in the nearby regions of Bamako, Mali. The plants were Opilia celtidifolia, Anthocleista d...

Authors: Adiaratou Togola, Drissa Diallo, Seydou Dembélé, Hilde Barsett and Berit Smestad Paulsen

Focusing on the ethnobotanical uses of plants in Mersin and Adana provinces (Turkey)

This paper presents the result of a study on the herbal drugs in the herbal markets in Mersin and Adana. The data were collected through direct interviews with herbalists and customers between 2002–2005 and th...

Authors: Ayse Everest and Ersin Ozturk

Why study the use of animal products in traditional medicines?

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that as many as 80% of the world's more than six billion people rely primarily on animal and plant-based medicines. The healing of human ailments by using therapeu...

Authors: Rômulo RN Alves and Ierecê L Rosa

Urinary diseases and ethnobotany among pastoral nomads in the Middle East

This article is derived from a broad, twenty-year study of ethnobotany and folk medicine among pastoral nomads in the Middle East which took place from 1984 to 2004. The article presents examples of different ...

Authors: Aref Abu-Rabia

Role of traditional healers in psychosocial support in caring for the orphans: A case of Dar-es Salaam City, Tanzania

Orphans are an increasing problem in developing countries particularly in Africa; due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic; and needs collective effort in intervention processes by including all stakeholders right from th...

Authors: Edmund J Kayombo, Zakaria H Mbwambo and Mariam Massila

Agricultural, domestic and handicraft folk uses of plants in the Tyrrhenian sector of Basilicata (Italy)

Research was carried out into agricultural and domestic-handicraft uses in folk traditions in the Tyrrhenian sector of the Basilicata region (southern Italy), as it is typically representative of ethnobotanica...

Authors: Giovanni Salerno, Paolo Maria Guarrera and Giulia Caneva

Welcome to Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine

Ethnobiology is a multidisciplinary field of study that draws on approaches and methods from both the social and biological sciences. Ethnobiology aims at investigating culturally based biological and environm...

Authors: Andrea Pieroni, Lisa Leimar Price and Ina Vandebroek