Ethnobotany - What is it and why should I care?

By Sage Krzak

Ethnobotany is basically the study of our relationship with plants and how people use them, or think about them. According to Merriam-Webster, ethnobotany is defined as "the plant lore of indigenous cultures, also the systematic study of such lore". I find this definition incomplete because it specifies “indigenous”. No offense intended, Merriam-Webster, but this definition doesn’t cut it for me. It’s more than that.

It’s not so much about, but it does necessarily talk about, anatomy, ecology, etc. The “ethno” part of the word really implies “how do we use it”? “How does it fit into human life”? We could be talking about how plants are used in food. We could talk about how the timbers are made to build your house. We could talk about the medicinal properties of herbs. This is a broad topic.

Why should I care? Well, the timbers for your house should be easy enough to understand. The food on your plate may very well have some produce involved (in most cases, it should). You might be wearing clothing or sleeping under a sheet made from plants, like cotton, linen (flax), or maybe even hemp and bamboo. I have a great pillow that is made from bamboo fibers. You might have a bamboo cutting board or an oak kitchen island. 

Let’s get deeper into it. Approximately 25% of pharmaceuticals are derived from plants. Depending on who you ask, 40-60% of pharmaceuticals are either derived from plants or synthesized based on chemicals first discovered in plants. I’m not telling you to believe everything you hear on the internet or start taking an herb because your friend told you to, but come on, a rough 50% or more of modern drugs are based on something that a plant developed first. 

Here are just a few to get you thinking. The base for aspirin is in willow and meadowsweet (salicylates). The base for taxol (anti-cancer drug. Also known as paclitaxel) is in yew. Digoxin, an anti-cancer medication (A cardiac glycoside), comes from foxglove. You’ve also got caffeine, THC, CBD, quinine from the cinchona tree (Anti-malarial), capsaicin (Makes chile peppers hot), ephedrine (Decongestant and stimulant), berberine (Used to combat diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure, and more), curcumin (From turmeric. Awesomely anti-inflammatory), atropine (Used to treat certain neurological conditions, mushroom poisoning, and has been used in surgery. Please, only use under professional recommendation.), and the list goes on.

Do you enjoy coffee, tea, or soda? There’s a plant, or at least a flavor based on a plant in all of these. A lot of rubber is synthetic, but there are plants that produce it too. What about the gas in your car (if you’re not electric)? Most of that is derived from long-dead plants. 

You might live in the middle of a big city, but I can practically guarantee that you deal with ethnobotany every day. That’s why you should care, and I hope that I can make this, not only informative, but exciting.