Reddit reviews Native American Ethnobotany

We found 3 Reddit comments about Native American Ethnobotany. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

3 Reddit comments about Native American Ethnobotany:

u/Cassandra_Quave · 21 pointsr/science

u/Anthropoclast · 9 pointsr/Survival

This is a very broad topic, and difficult to encapsulate in a few lines, but I'll give it a go. I spent about eight years of my life dedicated to this pursuit. I got a degree in bio and worked as a field botanist for years. I tutored it, etc etc.

There is a lot of conflicting information out there, even within the confines of structured and scientific botany. Species aren't neat little packages that many would like to believe, there are hybrid complexes and recent, yet unstable, specialization events that lead to distinct morphologies but the ability to interbreed.

Practically, you want to discern species A from B so that you may harvest one for a particular purpose. Some groups of plants are easy to ID (e.g. Brassicaceae), and relatively safe to utilize, where others (e.g. Apiaceae) contain both extremely beneficial AND deadly toxic species.

Yet, to get to the level of comfort and mastery where you can discern a poisonous plant from a nutritional plant that differs only in the number of stamens or the position of the ovule, it takes years of dedication. Ask yourself how committed to this you are? The consequences of mis-identification can be severe.

Now, past the disclaimer.

To begin this pursuit, you must, odviously, start with the basics. That is learning plant groups. Start coarse and work your way into more fine distinctions. Begin with this text book. It is well written and gives you all of the primary info. It is well written and concise and one of the few text books you that is highly readable. Botany is laden with terminology, and this book is invaluable for that.

Next, you need a flora. Just a quick search (i live in a different biota) yields this website / information. This is a group that you can trust. If you live near, you may attend some of their field trips or lectures. This is the inner circle of botanists in your area and the ones that probably have the info you are looking into. But, most botanists are in it for intellectual masturbation, so keep the uses out of the discussion or you will be shunned (some are more accepting than others).

A couple of other books that are credible, exhaustive, and useful for your purposes are this and this. Lets face it, the indigenous cultures of this continent knew what they were doing long before we Europeanized the landscape. Also try this and this is the definitive guide for European transplants (many of which are naturalized and invasive but nonetheless useful to us).

Any questions, I'd be happy to answer to the best of my ability.

u/echinops · 1 pointr/Ethnobotany

It depends on soil type and moisture levels. Most of of those are indeed old world plants, though most of them can thrive in arid climates with water and proper soil. There are also many native analogues (same genus different species), and that book is a good jumping off point for their qualities.

For more regional herbals, this guy got me started. Or if you want the encyclopedia, this is unrivaled. There are more. But all of these, including Grieves, tells different parts of the same story.