Ethnobotany

What is Ethnobotany?

Study of interactions between plants and people; how plants have shaped human culture

Who is the father of ethnobotany?

John Harshberger

How is wild rice (Zizania palustris) harvested?

Beat water reeds and the ripe seeds fall out

What is a paleoethnobotanist/archaebotanist?

Someone who studies the use of plants in ancient cultures

What is bioprospecting?

Movement to make drugs based on information from native peoples

What is the controversy concerning the Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharantus roseus)?

Eli Lilly Co. made bank while the Masagascar people made nothing

In fact, the people of Madgascar have to pay for the drugs made from the flower

What drugs are made from the Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharantus roseus)

vincristine and vinblastine; potent anti-cancer drugs

What is biopiracy?

the appropriation, or patent, of indigenous biomedical knowledge by foreign entities without compensatory payment.

Exceptions to biopiracy

Callophyllum lanigerum, taken from Sarawak, Indonesia; it inhibits HIV; Indonesian people will receive compensation

Mamala Tree, native to Samoa, that acts against HIV as well; 50% profits will be shared

Two types of conservation

conservation in native habitat; "ex situ" conservation