Textbook of Economic Botany and Ethnobotany

Ethnobotany is the study of how people of a particular culture and region make of use of indigenous plants. Ethnobotanists explore how plants are used for such things as food, shelter, medicine, clothing, hunting and religious ceremonies. Ethnobotany has its roots in botany, the study of plants. Botany, in turn, originated in part from an interest in finding plants to help fight illness. In fact, medicine and botany have always had close ties. The diminishing rain forests may well hold unknown keys to conquering devastating new diseases, and peoples native to those regions can often lead the way with their harbal knowledge. Considering the impact of plant use throughout history in the human social structures of economics, politics, religion, and science, this is a book that contributes immeasurably to our understanding of human history and the world today. The book is designed so that selected parts can be used for graduate and post-graduate courses. The book contains: Introduction to Ethnobotany - Economic Plants. - Economic Botany and Industrial Plants - Medicinal Plants - Economic Botany Resources - Plants used for Food . This book offers important new material for those who work in fields of science devoted to plants people, of both including anthropology, archaeology, botany, environmental conservation ethnopharmacology, geography, history, medicine, psychology, religion, and  sociology. (jacket)