Book Review Editor, Wendy L. Applequist
Book Reviews
- First Online:
DOI:
10.1007/s12231-016-9359-6
- Cite this article as:
- Econ Bot (2016). doi:10.1007/s12231-016-9359-6
- 41 Downloads
Ancient
Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of
Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America, Volumes I and II.
Nancy J. Turner. 2014. McGill-Queens University, Montreal, Canada.
xxxvii + 554 pp.; xv + 552 pp. (hardcover). USD 125.00. ISBN:
978-0773543805.
Nancy Turner’s monumental Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge
has set a lofty standard for comparative ethnobotanical studies. The
2016 Mary W. Klinger Book Award winner integrates Turner’s career–long
studies in the Pacific Northwest with related ancillary studies. The
two–volume epic comprises four main sections: history, development,
management, and ethnobotanical knowledge. Despite its temperate focus,
Turner’s treatise covers more than 500 plant species in an area with 50
distinct languages. Not surprisingly, a major strength is the extensive
linguistic analyses found throughout the two volumes.
Ancient Pathways
documents the ingenuity and innovation of the Pacific Northwest’s first
inhabitants through their use of birchbark kettles, cedar canoes,
mock–orange arrows, yew harpoon shafts, and many other plant–derived
products. More than 40 species have been used for basketry and around
200 species for therapeutic application. A work of this scope is
intriguing because it reveals both unique uses and widespread ones. For
example, an indigenous name of Salix exigua translates as “rope plant,” similar to the translation of the name of Salix caroliniana in the southeastern USA.
The importance of one species stands out. Thuja plicata,
commonly known as western red cedar, has long been a keystone species
in the Pacific Northwest as evidenced by its diversity of common names
and related terms. Turner, as have others, makes the case that the
cultural salience of a plant is revealed by both the structure and
number of names for a species. Cedar is also noteworthy for the tree’s
spiritual importance in the region. The discussions of cedar also
illustrate one of the limitations of Ancient Pathways,
albeit an understandable one. It could be called an anthrocentric as
opposed to a phytocentric text. To find all uses for a species, such as
red cedar, one would have to examine each citation listed in the index.
Plant taxonomists might shudder at the use of old familial names for some taxa (e.g., Allium cernuum as Liliaceae instead of Amaryllidaceae, Camassia quamash as Liliaceae instead of Asparagaceae, and Sambucus racemosa
as Caprifoliaceae instead of Adoxaceae) and the lack of author
citations. Typographical errors are minimal (one is the misspelling of
the specific epithet for chick pea). A few descriptions of plant natural
compounds are misleading. For example, “ . . . inulin – a complex sugar
comprised of units of fructose and fructans.” Inulin, a type of
fructan, refers to several fructose polymers that have a terminal
glucose molecule. Nicotine is not narcotic, which depresses the CNS,
rather it is a cholinomimetic drug, which stimulates the PNS.
Considering
the book’s vast scope, these are insignificant problems. Turner’s work
is unique. It synthesizes not just plant use but also plant management,
and the cultural significance of both along with other topics including
knowledge transmission and spiritual relationships across a significant
region. It should be read by all serious ethnobiologists.
BRADLEY C. BENNETT
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
MIAMI, FL, U.S.A.
BENNETT@FIU.EDU
Curating Biocultural Collections: A Handbook.
Jan Salick, Katie Konchar, and Mark Nesbitt, editors. 2014. Kew
Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Richmond, Surrey, UK. ix + 406 pp.
(paperback). USD 50.00. ISBN 978-1842464984.
Curating Biocultural Collections,
a finalist for the 2016 Klinger Book Award, is a comprehensive,
extensively and attractively illustrated, affordable, and well–edited
text. It likely will expand the concept and locations of biocultural
collections for most readers. The book’s nearly 50 contributors (26
chapters) represent a broad range of specialties and include scientific,
curatorial, and indigenous perspectives on collections. Biocultural
materials include art, artifacts, audio and video recordings, baskets,
books and manuscripts, clothing and textiles, DNA samples, herbarium
vouchers, living collections, museum specimens, photographs, phytoliths
and pollen, seeds, and wood collections.
Wood
collections or xylaria are exceedingly important but largely
under–appreciated and under–utilized resources. In Chapter 9, Alex
Wiedenhoeft notes that vouchering of xylaria specimens only became a
common practice in the 1980s. The vital importance of herbaria and
herbarium specimens is a recurring theme throughout the book. A related
topic that also appears frequently is the requirement for accurate
taxonomy. Bennett and Balick (2014) called the correct botanical name,
linked to a voucher, “the sine qua non of phytomedical research.” The
same principle applies to biocultural collections.
Chapters
10 and 24–26 offer practical suggestions for living as well as
artifact–based biocultural collections. Andrew Wyatt notes the
all–too–common public presentation of inaccurate data that lacks any
cultural content. These will be useful references for both botanical
garden and museum curators.
Chapter 17
(“Indigenous Perceptions of Biocultural Collections”) by Jane Mt.
Pleasant will be the most controversial chapter for most readers.
Nonetheless, it should be read by all as it offers at least one
indigenous perspective on collections. Pleasant uncritically, as well as
unconvincingly, blames western science for the extinction of indigenous
knowledge. There is no doubt, an association between the advancing
science and the demise of traditional knowledge. But the author fails to
demonstrate that the decline was either the consequence of science or
the intent of scientists. Furthemore, Pleasant fails to consider the
reciprocal movement of plants and plant knowledge among cultures. Old
World plantains have become the staple for many indigenous people in the
Neotropics just as New World cassava is the staple of African people.
Likewise, introduced plants are frequently incorporated into indigenous
pharmacopoeias (e.g., Bennett and Prance 2000).
Biocultural
collections are extensive and diverse and are valuable research for
scholarship and interpretation. Considering that virtually every history
museum has artifacts made from plant–derived material, as well as the
many types of cited collections, the audience for this text is vast.
LITERATURE CITED
Bennett,
B.C. and M.J. Balick. 2014. Does the name really matter? The importance
of botanical nomenclature and plant taxonomy in biomedical research.
Journal of Ethnopharmacology 152: 387–392.
Bennett,
B.C. and G.T. Prance. 2000. Introduced plants in the indigenous
pharmacopoeia of northern South America. Economic Botany 54: 90–102.
BRADLEY C. BENNETT
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
MIAMI, FL, U.S.A.
BENNETT@FIU.EDU
Ethnobotany of Mexico: Interactions of People and Plants in Mesoamerica.
Rafael Liria, Alejandro Casa and José Blancas, eds. 2016 Springer, New
York. 900 pp. (hardcover). USD 249.00. ISBN: 978-1-4614-6668-0. Ebook:
USD 189.00. ISBN: 978-1-4614-6669-7.
Over
the years, overviews on plant use in specific regions have slowly gained
momentum around the globe. However, quite often, such volumes have
focused on very narrow aspects, e.g., medicinal plant use, food plants,
and intellectual property rights issues. Ethnobotany of Mexico
is an outstanding example of avoiding such a narrow focus and providing
the reader with a broad perspective of all ethnobotanical aspects of a
tremendously diverse and fascinating research area. Liria et al. have
done an exceptional effort to unite an outstanding group of contributors
for this volume.
In 22 chapters, both
historic and modern aspects of plant use in Mexico are reported on in
profound ways. Chapter 8 takes up questions on sustainability and
ecosystem management from a local perspective, while the following five
chapters address the very important topic of domestication—very
appropriate, given the role of Mexico as center for, e.g., corn and bean
domestication. Most importantly, one chapter focuses entirely on the
often neglected aspects of ethnobotany of weeds, as well as
phytogeographical aspects of domestication.
After
this introduction, a further five chapters address some of the most
important crops—maize, beans, cotton, Chile peppers, giving the reader
an in depth view on each of these species. Finally, the volume does
include four chapters specifically dealing with the modern problematic
of knowledge loss, conservation of plant genetic resources, GMO
introductions, and finally an overview of the implications of
international agreements on plant resources for human rights in Mexico.
The
editors need to be congratulated for having brought forward a volume
that will be the standard for years to come. Policymakers, researchers,
and the general public have for the first time a concise but readable
overview of the ethnobotany of Mexico. Everyone interested in
ethnobotany not only of the target country but also on a global scale
will find a wealth of information in this volume.
Overall, Ethnobotany of Mexico
is a great example as to how modern ethnobotanical treatises should be
structured, and what information they should include. As such, the
volume can be the standard by which other publications of this kind will
be measured in the future.
The book is
presented as both a hardcover edition and ebook, which will allow access
for a much wider spectrum of readers, although given its price, it
might be out of reach for many. In addition, it is to be hoped that soon
a translation to Spanish will be available in order to actually
repatriate the information to the country of origin.
RAINER W. BUSSMANN
WILLIAM L. BROWN CENTER
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN
ST. LOUIS, MO, U.S.A.
RAINER.BUSSMANN@MOBOT.ORG
Maize for the Gods: Unearthing the 9,000-Year History of Corn. Michael Blake. 2015. University of California Press, Oakland, CA. xiv + 266 pp. (paperback). USD 29.95. ISBN: 978-0520286962.
In The Wealth of Nations, Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith (1776) made two bold assertions:
“New
Granada [Colombia], the Yucatan, Paraguay, and the Brazils were, before
discovered by the Europeans, inhabited by savage nations, who had
neither arts nor agriculture.”
“The
colonists carry out with them a knowledge of agriculture and of other
useful arts superior to what can grow up of its own accord in the course
of many centuries among savage and barbarous nations.”
The Wealth of Nations
is still in print and its influence persists. Alan Greenspan (2005)
called it “one of the great achievements in human intellectual history.”
Economists can debate the book’s merit within their field of inquiry
but Smith’s descriptions of New World agriculture are uninformed,
erroneous, and ethnocentric. Not only was agriculture well established
in the New World at the time of European discovery, its inhabitants had
domesticated scores of crops including amaranth, avocado, avocado,
cacao, cashew, cassava, chili pepper, common bean, corn, peanut,
pineapple, potato, squash, sunflower, sweet potato, and tomato. Four of
these, including corn, rank among the top ten world crops.
Michael Blake’s Maize for the Gods,
a 2016 Klinger Book Award Finalist, is an accessible, informative, and
entertaining treatise on the history of corn in the New World. The book
examines maize origin stories, archaeology, diversification and spread,
and symbolic value. SEB members should recognize many of the players in
the often acrimonious history of corn domestication studies. These
include Paul Manglesdorf (SEB president 1963), Garrison Wilkes
(president 1984), Walter Galinat (DEB 1994), Hugh Iltis (DEB 1998), and
Mary Eubanks (president 2010). John Doebley (1990), an Iltis student,
solved the enigma of corn domestication by identifying Zea mays subsp. parviglumis
as the teosinte genetically most similar to modern corn. The role of
teosinte had been postulated earlier by eminent Russian agronomist
Nikolai Vavilov and American Nobel Prize–winner George Beadle in the
early 1930s.
Blake recounts recent studies
that push the domestication of corn back to 9000 years before present,
not long after the first plants were domesticated in the Fertile
Crescent. Yet, it did not become a staple crop for another or
6000 years. Blake also discusses the intriguing role that maize–stalk
beer may have played in the history of this renowned crop.
Botanists will quibble over Blake’s use of subspecific epithets as possessives (e.g., parviglumis’s) and his use of synonyms when contrasting corn and potato domestication (Solanum andigenum Juz. & Bukasov and Solanum chilotanum Hawkes instead of Solanum tuberosum L.). These taxa are best referred to the S. tuberosum Andigenum Group and the S. tuberosum
Chilotanum Group. The discussion of nixtamalization is based on old
literature. While the alkaline processing of maize may increase protein
content, the main benefit is increased bioavailability of niacin along
with higher calcium content and reduction of aflatoxin concentrations
(Sefa-Dedeh et al. 2004). The ritualistic importance of corn in the
southeastern USA is underrated. The Green Corn Ceremony, briefly
mentioned by Blake, is the central focus of most indigenous cultures in
the region (e.g., Capron 1953). Nevertheless, Maize for the Gods
is a wonderful account of one of the world’s most important crops. It
would be a welcome supplement to any economic botany, ethnobotany, or
food and culture class reading list.
LITERATURE CITED
Capron,
L. 1953. Medicine bundles of the Florida Seminole and the Green Corn
Dance. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 151(35): 155–210.
Doebley, J. 1990. Molecular evidence and the evolution of maize. Economic Botany 44(3 supplement): 6–27.
Greenspan, A. 2005. Remarks by Chairman Alan Greenspan. Adam Smith Memorial Lecture, Kirkcaldy, Scotland. February 6, 2005. http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2005/20050206/default.htm. [accessed 28 Oct 2016].
Sefa-Dedeh,
S., B. Cornelius, E. Sakyi-Dawson, and E.O. Afoakwa. 2004. Effect of
nixtamalization and functional properties of maize. Food Chemistry 86:
317–324.
Smith, A. 1776. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Library of Economics and Liberty. http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN.html. [accessed 30 Oct 2016]
BRADLEY C. BENNETT
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
MIAMI, FL, U.S.A.
BENNETT@FIU.EDU
Mediterranean Wild Edible Plants: Ethnobotany and Food Composition Tables.
de Cortes Sánchez-Mata, Maria, and Javier Tardío, eds. 2016. Springer,
New York. xii + 478 pp (hardcover). USD 129.00. ISBN 978-1-4939-3327-3.
As
a region in which many of our crop plants were domesticated and in
which crop relatives persist as wild plants, the Mediterranean basin
presents an interesting focus for a book on wild edible plants. Spanning
21 countries, numerous ecotypes, and three continents, it is not a
narrow focus. The stated aims of the authors are to provide nutritional
data, to contribute to the revalorization of wild food species and the
preservation of traditional uses, and to improve modern Mediterranean
diets. While this book is focused on the Mediterranean basin, the
Mediterranean climate of mild wet winters and dry hot summers is found
in other countries, so plants covered may be of interest to people
looking at novel crops in Mediterranean areas outside of the
Mediterranean basin. For example, farming without irrigating is gaining
momentum in California and some wild Mediterranean basin plants such as
summer purslane (Portulaca oleracea) are suited to cultivation under dry–farming regimes.
An
overview of edible wild plants is provided from an assortment of
contributors. Given the challenge of reviewing plants from such a large
region, coverage of all countries in the Mediterranean basin is not
comprehensive, but is reasonable. Perhaps due to the combination of
authors, its emphasis is more on the European part of the Mediterranean
basin. There is less on the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.
Species
covered in the “Ethnobotanical and Food Composition Monographs” were
selected on the basis of cultural importance and existence of food
composition data. Presentation of information within consistent
categories makes that information more useful as it is easy to compare
the species covered. Unfortunately that means that many species, which
are culturally important and should be included as the main wild plants
consumed in the area, are not covered in these monographs because of
lack of available data.
The aim of
preserving traditional uses might be better supported with the inclusion
of more information on population ecologies and impacts of wild
harvesting on the species covered, in particular as the Mediterranean is
considered to be a biodiversity hotspot—not only a region of diversity
but also one where that diversity is considered to be under threat.
Chapters
on the contribution of wild plants to dietary intakes do a nice job of
connecting the kinds of nutritional data presented in the monographs to
functions of those nutrients in the human body. Excellent use is made of
photographs, in particular as they are gathered together to illustrate
different aspects of one theme. For example, commercial cultivation of
golden thistle (Scolymus hispanicus)
shows seedlings being grown in seedbeds and planted out and how edible
midribs of leaves are bundled and kept in water after harvesting and
cleaning.
Overall, if you keep the gaps in
coverage in mind and treat this as a reference source that is not
comprehensive, a vast amount of pertinent information is crammed into
the book.
SUSANNE MASTERS
BOURNEMOUTH, U.K.
INFO@SUSANNEMASTERS.COM
Ethnobiology for the Future: Linking Cultural and Ecological Diversity. Nabhan, Gary Paul, ed. 2016. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. xii + 309 pp. (paperback). USD 29.95. ISBN 978-0-8165-3274-2.
No
one has done more than Gary Nabhan to bring the central tenets of
ethnobiology to a broad audience. That there is an inextricable link
between biological and cultural diversity, that indigenous people often
know far more about biological (and, especially, agricultural) diversity
than do members of industrialized society, and that global well–being
is tied to the well–being of biocultural diversity are constant and
consistent themes that have clearly and consistently threaded through
most of his writings for well over three decades.
Nabhan
first came to the attention of the reading public with his first two
lyrical books on the intertwined agricultural and biological diversity
on the U.S.–Mexican border: The Desert Smells like Rain (Nabhan, 1982) and Gathering the Desert
(Nabhan, 1985). These two volumes charted the path for the more than
three dozen books that would follow: Gary in some out–of–the–way locale,
conversing with some local folks and revealing layer upon layer of
knowledge, mystery, and meaning—a process that continues to and through Ethnobiology for the Future.
The
subtitle of this new book is “Linking Cultural and Ecological
Diversity,” but it could just as accurately have been entitled “A Nabhan
Reader.” This volume is an intriguing collection of essays old and new,
some written specifically for this volume, others that have been
published as blogs or in both mainstream and more obscure places. Nabhan
is the sole author of seven of the 20 pieces; the rest are coauthored
with other ethnobiologists, ecologists, geographers, historians, food
historians, and Native American colleagues (mind you, most of the
authors fit in more than one of these categories). With Gary as a guide
and teacher, the reader travels from Arizona to Oman; from the Sea of
Cortez to the Indian Ocean—with many stops along the way. And
extraordinary characters appear: Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, Java Man,
E.O. Wilson, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Nikolai Vavilov, to name just a
few.
Nor is this book limited to plants:
as appropriate for a volume devoted to ethnobiology, condors, hawkmoths,
oysters, scallops, sea turtles, and other creatures feature
prominently, always in the context of their role within the ecosystem
and the local knowledge about their place in the web of life.
In
an age where indigenous cultures face rapid change, and when primary
ecosystems face growing threats, one might wonder not only what is the future of ethnobiology but also whether
there is a future for ethnobiology. Nabhan addresses this head on in a
powerful opening essay entitled, “Letter to Young Ethnobiologists.”
(spoiler: there is!) From there, Gary and his colleagues focus on three
major issues: redefining ethnobiology, showing how and why ethnobiology
is essential to biocultural conservation, and how to broaden the appeal
and impact of ethnobiology.
In short, this
book will be devoured by all fellow Nabhanophiles and should be read by
all those interested in food, culture, conservation, botany, and the
worlds around them. So chock full of great ideas, penetrating insights
and unforgettable landscapes is this book, however, that it should be
savored slowly like the fine feast it is!
LITERATURE CITED
Nabhan,
G.P. 1982. The desert smells like rain: a naturalist in Papago Indian
country. North Point Press, San Francisco, California.
Nabhan, G.P. 1985. Gathering the desert. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.
MARK J. PLOTKIN
AMAZON CONSERVATION TEAM
ARLINGTON, VA, U.S.A.
MPLOTKIN@AMAZONTEAM.ORG
Ethnobotany of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians.
Phillips, Patricia Whereat. 2016. Oregon State University Press,
Corvallis. xv + 147 pp. (softcover). USD 22.95. ISBN 978-0-87071-852-6.
Steeped
in indigenous language and ways of knowing, Patricia Whereat Phillips
has written a remarkable ethnobotanical survey of the Coos, Lower
Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians. This work most fundamentally represents a
collection of what “the knowledge holders” know, as emphasized in the
foreword by Nancy J. Turner. In a rigorous blending of epistemological
approaches, the words of living indigenous people are blended with
botanical analysis, archaeology, and ethnohistory to reconstruct a vital
plant culture.
In four short chapters
proceeding the plant descriptions, Phillips outlines the cultural and
linguistic context of the communities under study, as well as the
history of the ethnographic accounts she draws from. The Coos, Lower
Umpqua, and Siuslaw are closely related tribes living along the central
and southern Oregon coast. Traditionally, people moved seasonally
upriver from coastal and estuarine villages to fish and gather plants
for food and medicine. Women were the primary gatherers and held
knowledge related to foraging sites and landscape management practices,
enhancing an already productive region through controlled burns and
annual soil aeration. Plant foods and medicines included a diverse suite
of berries, roots and tubers, wild greens, fungi, and marine plants.
Wood from cedar, spruce, fir, and other trees was used traditionally to
make tools, fishing weirs, and canoes. Baskets and ropes were crafted
from hazel, willow, conifer roots, bark, rushes, and grasses.
Phillips
helpfully divides the descriptive section into general classes—trees,
shrubs, forbs, ferns, fern allies, mosses, and fungi and seaweeds. Each
description goes beyond traits and habitat, highlighting traditional
uses as well as the cosmological significance of a given plant where
applicable. Personal memories from ethnographic informants bring
vitality to the plant world described. Phillips’s attention to language
is another notable feature of the study. Three languages—Hanis, Milluk,
and Siuslaw—are spoken by the tribes, and native plant names are
included where available, celebrating a rich tradition and bringing
another dimension of traditional knowledge to the reader.
This
work builds on a project previously initiated by the Confederated
Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw and serves as an admirable
example of community–based ethnobotanical research. It was written not
only for an outside audience but also to preserve knowledge for the
indigenous communities themselves. This additional and more human
imperative is palpable throughout, both in the accessible presentation
of information and the opening sections that provide cultural context.
Drawing from her Milluk Coos heritage, Phillips shares her “connection
to a place and a family history” with readers, rendering her work
valuable far beyond its botanical utility.
GRACE WARD
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS
ST. LOUIS, MO, U.S.A.
G.M.WARD@WUSTL.EDU
Plantes Remarquables du Vanuatu. Remarkable Plants of Vanuatu.
Ramon, Laurence, and Chanel Sam. 2015. Biotope Editions, Mèze, France,
and New York Botanical Garden Press, New York. 256 pp. (paperback). EUR
30.00, USD 35.00. ISBN 978-0-89327-544-0.
Walking
in a city park, in the woods, or in a forest trying to identify plants
and trees can be an amusing game not only for plant taxonomists but also
for everyday nature observers who like to find recurrent patterns in
tree’s foliage or flower shapes. The practice of identifying and naming
living organisms is an ancient one. Since classical antiquity,
naturalists such as Theophrastus, Pliny, and Dioscorides collected
information on plants. While their descriptions are often detailed, it
is not always clear what they were referring to. As a matter of fact,
describing a plant can be a challenging task that, however, if not
supported by the use of images risks being a material restricted to a
specialist audience.
Modern floras offer
an indispensable tool for those who enjoy identifying and naming species
of the plant world, and in this respect, The remarkable plants of Vanuatu
is a virtuous exercise that deserves to be acknowledged and praised.
The book is a collection of beautiful drawings and essential notes for
the identification of the most remarkable plants present on the islands
of Vanuatu. It is a refreshing work where climbing vines, prickly pods,
hanging flowers, and leathery leaves are skillfully collected by Chanel
Sam and beautifully rendered by the drawings of Laurence Ramon. In
effect, it is a fine work of art and science.
The
book has a dual purpose: on the one hand, as the title suggests, it is a
compilation of plants chosen for their remarkable features; on the
other hand, it is a contribution towards the conservation of the
linguistic knowledge of these plants. In addition to their physical
description, notes on the medicinal and ornamental use are provided, and
each species is identified also by its scientific, vernacular, and
common name in French, English, and the local language Bislama.
As
discussed in the introduction, the islands of Vanuatu are truly oceanic
islands that have never been connected with continental landmasses and
where the vegetation was brought by sea, wind, birds, and bats mainly
not only from northwest but also from the south. Due to Vanuatu’s
geological origins and geographical position, the vegetation on the
Vanuatu archipelago is younger and less diverse than that found in
neighboring islands. And yet, it is still quite rich in remarkable
endemic species.
The book, written both in
French and in English, is well structured. It is organized in two main
sections: seed–producing plants and spore–bearing plants, each of them
divided in subgroups that collect plants according to their growth form:
trees, shrubs, herbs and vines, and ferns and lycophytes. For easy
reference, each subgroup is marked on the edge of the book by a
different color. This book is useful not only to an academic audience
but also to those who love looking at nature with a curious and
attentive eye, so that if you happen to be in Vanuatu, or conversely, if
you are looking for an excuse to visit an exotic island in the Pacific,
then this is the right book for you.
ILARIA MARIA GRIMALDI
ROME, ITALY
ILARIAM.GRIMALDI@GMAIL.COM
Medicinal Plants and Malaria: Applications, Trends, and Prospects.
Traditional Herbal Medicines for Modern Times, vol. 16. Teng,
Woon-Chien, Ho Han Kiat, Rossarin Suwanarusk, and Hwee-Ling Koh. 2016.
CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. xxviii + 472 pp. (hardcover). USD 89.95. ISBN
978-1-4987-4467-6.
This ethnobotanical
text is a timely and much–needed modern addition to the study of malaria
and its treatment. The book is well–paced and organically structured.
It begins by familiarizing the reader with the public health
implications and pathogenesis of malaria then explores the current state
of antimalarial medication and antimalarial ethnobotany. Also included
is a biochemical examination of four medicinal plants with
antiplasmodial components. Overall, the authors describe 1800 botanical
species in a series of exhaustive appendices, which serve as useful
reviews of relevant existing ethnobotanical literature. The text’s
content is both well–paced and well–organized.
In
the first pages of the book, the authors explain that “the resources
are not vetted” (p. xxiv) so the reader must take it upon herself to
determine whether the book is a reliable source of information. This
disclaimer, while somewhat jarring in an academic text, is a useful
reminder to the reader that the study of malaria and its treatment is a
rapidly changing one, given the rate of antimalarial resistance in
endemic regions. Taking this into account, this book would be well at
home in the research libraries and personal bookshelves of undergraduate
biologists and professional researchers alike. It provides a uniquely
comprehensive look at malarial research with a language and structure
that is accessible to scholars of any level of experience.
A
not insignificant issue is that the book has been printed so that a
strip of ink is missing on nearly every left page in the book. This is
mostly just a distracting nuisance but it has served in some instances
to obscure some tabulated information beyond comprehension. This has
hopefully been corrected in subsequent print runs, in which case I
recommend purchasing a later printing of the book for academic use.
TAYLOR WALKER
HOLLINS UNIVERSITY
ROANOKE, VA, U.S.A.
WALKERTJ@HOLLINS.EDU
Indian Ethnobotany – Bibliography of 21st Century (2001–2015).
Jain, Anita, and S. K. Jain. 2016. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur,
India. viii + 208 pp. (hardcover). INR 1850.00, USD 62.00. ISBN
978-81-7233-994-4.
This work is devoted
to a list, alphabetized by first author, of 2485 publications relating
to Indian ethnobotany, most published between 2001 and 2015. Works that
are “mainly anthropological” or “primarily botanical” are excluded. The
authors explain in a brief preface that two previously published
bibliographies recorded Indian ethnobotanical literature from before
1982 and up to 2000, so that only a few references from those time
periods are included in this book. The difficulty of creating a complete
list can be deduced from the fact that references 2349 through 2485 are
in an addendum.
The volume includes
three indices, all directing readers to numbered references. The first
is to junior authors by last name (since first authors can be as easily
looked up in the text itself). A second index compiles names of
communities and ethnic groups. A third, relatively short, indexes
selected keywords for some papers, which are usually quite specific,
often species names. Broad topics such as “agriculture,” “conservation,”
or “edible plants” are not indexed, nor are some specific topics
mentioned in individual paper titles, such as “epilepsy” or “sacred
groves” (though most recent literature on the latter topic did not meet
inclusion criteria). This means that while the book contains a great
deal of information, it is sometimes difficult to access, as the reader
interested in a specific subject may only be able to look up known
authors or browse at random.
WENDY L. APPLEQUIST
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN
ST. LOUIS, MO, USA
WENDY.APPLEQUIST@MOBOT.ORG
Taxonomy of Mycotoxigenic Fungi.
Girisham, S., V. Koteswara Rao, and S. M. Reddy. 2016. Scientific
Publishers, Jodhpur, India. viii + 317 pp. (hardcover). INR 1950.00, USD
65.00. ISBN 978-81-7233-986-9.
This work may not seem relevant to most readers of Economic Botany.
However, the health damage and economic losses caused by toxic fungi
are certainly of interest to economic botanists, and major disease
outbreaks caused by tainted staple crops may also interest some
ethnobotanists.
Most of the book is
occupied with descriptions of mycotoxigenic fungi belonging to 65
genera, which include taxonomic position, synonyms, and known
teleomorphs, morphological characters and diagnostic features, and
reported toxins. The treatments of large genera such as Aspergillus and Penicillium
include keys to infrageneric groups or toxic species, summaries of
taxonomic literature, and other added information. There are numerous
line drawings, which are generally quite good, and black–and–white
photographs.
The book also includes
informative chapters on isolation and culture, molecular detection and
identification, and pleomorphism, as well as an overall key to the
included genera. The English is imperfect and could have used better
editing. Nevertheless, the book is quite information–dense and would
certainly be a useful resource to anyone whose work involved the
investigation of fungi growing on food plants.
WENDY L. APPLEQUIST
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN
ST. LOUIS, MO, USA
WENDY.APPLEQUIST@MOBOT.ORG
