bio127 lec

• Taxonomic Classification

  Domain > Kingdom > Phylum > Class > Order > Family > Genus > Species
• Ethnobotany


  systematic study of plants and their relationship with people; collaboration between researchers and communities
• Ultimate aim of Ethnobotany

  Plant and cultural conservation and community development
• Source of knowledge about medicinal plants

  Communities and people
• Questions that Ethnobotany answers

  What plants, How they are used, and Why they are used
• Two types of knowledge

  Traditional and Scientific knowledge; complement one another
• Traditional Knowledge


  local people’s knowledge of the environment
• Scientific Knowledge


  an information derived from academic research
• Characteristics of Ethnobotany

  ; Dynamic, Changing, Emerging
• Topics in Etnobotany

  Food botany, Cultural botany, Medicinal botany, Economic botany
• Food botany


  Herbs (northern hem), Spices (southern hemis); staple crops, fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, beverages
• Cultural botany

  plants in religious symbols
• Medicinal botany

  decoctions, infusions, tinctures, poultices, compresses, tablets
• Economic botany


  Economic: dyes and fibers, gums and latex, aromatic oils, handicrafts
• Decoctions


  extracts from plants by heating and boiling
• Infusions


  soaking plant materials in water
• Tinctures


  soaking plants in alcohol
• Poultices


  crushed plant organs used to apply topically to skin diseases
• Compresses


  cloths that are soaked in plant materials, usually used to dress wounds
• Tablets


  powdered plant organs with medicinal properties
• Prehistory of Ethnobotany

  Unwritten history of plant use but is known
• Atharvavedia


  Ayurvedic medicine (-4000 BC)
• Ayurvedic medicine (-4000 BC)


  Healing; holistic well-being of humans; purify impurities (disease)
• Shennong’s Pen Tsao Ching


  first documented pharmacopeia; documents HOW to use plants
• Traditional Chinese medicine (-2500 BC)


  maintaining balance between the different elements within the body
• Priest-Doctors’ Ebers Papyrus


  HOW to use plants; explicit sections about Women’s Health and Mental diseases
• Egyptian medicine(-1500 BC)


  continuous flow of bodily fluids
• Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica


  first publication with description of plant morphology
• Greek Medicine (-AD 70)


  Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica
• Avicenna’s The Canon of Medicine


  How to PREPARE plants and possible modes of action; name of plants, name of the diseases they treat, and the morphological description of plants
• Islamic Medicine (-1000)


  Avicenna/Ibn Sina
• Hildegard of Bingen’s Physica and Causea at Curae


  links between natural and spiritual world; diseases encountered in monastery
• Monastic Gardens (-1100)


  The monks have first hand experiences on how to treat the sick ■ The monasteries have their own garden whose plants are used and applied for treatment
• Paracelsus’ doctrine of signatures


  first systematic experimentations; plant organ resembles an organ of the human body, that plant may be able to cure any disease on that particular body organ it resembles
• Renaissance (-1500)


  The age of enlightenment; clinical trials to validate efficacy of medicinal plants
• William Withering (foxglove)


  Experiments were made to pinpoint what specific component of the mixture really alleviated edema; foxglove
• Friedrich Serturner (poppy)


  Opium poppy was observed to induces sleepiness; morphine
• First Extractions (-1800)


  foxglove and opium poppy
• Georg Joseph Kamel


  Plants of Luzon Island (1700s) & Malaspina Expedition (1750s)
• Francisco Manual Blanco

  Flora de Filipinas (1800s); first documentation of Philippine plants