Ethnobotany: How Plant Knowledge Is Recorded and Why Records Are Not Recommendations

What ethnobotany is

Ethnobotany is a field of study that investigates the complex relationships between people and plants, including how different societies use plants for purposes such as medicine. [1] Researchers visit communities, record which plants are used, for what, and how, and file the results in papers and databases. A related field, ethnopharmacology, studies the biologically active natural products behind such uses; see ethnopharmacology and drug discovery. The wider study of how researchers work with healing traditions is covered in medical anthropology and ethnomedicine.

How plant knowledge is recorded

Much plant knowledge has been passed orally from generation to generation. [2] Researchers who write it down depend on what people choose to share. A record usually has a few parts:

• the community, place and language it comes from;
• the plant's scientific name, so others can check which plant is meant;
• the part used and how it is prepared;
• the reported use;
• who gave the information.

Records differ in quality. A careful record names the plant precisely and says who shared it. A weak one gives only a common name, which makes the plant hard to identify. The kidney-disease case linked to slimming pills shows why identity matters: authors of a review warned that frequent substitution of one botanical for another is a high risk in complex pharmacopoeias. [3]

Why a record is not a recommendation

A record shows that people use a plant in a certain way. It does not show that the plant works, that the dose is safe, or that it suits you. Reviewers who study ethnobotanical records for drug discovery note that ethnobotanical practices are limited to codification based on experience. [1] Their approach is to treat patterns of use across cultures as hypotheses, and they suggest that therapeutic hypotheses from convergent use may be prioritized for drug discovery. [1] That is a statement about where to look in the laboratory, not about what to take.

Records can point somewhere useful. One review of plant-derived drugs found 122 compounds from 94 plant species, and 80 percent had an ethnomedical use identical or related to the current use of the active compound. [4] It does not follow that a given herb works. The claim for any herb needs a trial; see historical use vs clinical evidence.

Evidence label for most ethnobotanical records of single plants: traditional use only, unless trials exist.

Consent, ownership and what stays private

Ethnobotany has a history of research done without permission. The International Society of Ethnobiology's code of ethics acknowledges that much research was undertaken in the past without the prior informed consent of Indigenous peoples, and states that educated prior informed consent must be established before any research is undertaken. [5] Some knowledge is deliberately kept inside communities. Kallawaya communities in Bolivia, working with UNESCO and others, documented their healing practices and related botanical knowledge, and made the publication exclusive to Kallawaya communities. [6] The absence of a public record is therefore not an absence of knowledge. See what is public and what is restricted and Native American plants in public records.

Reading an ethnobotanical record safely

1. Check the plant name is the scientific name, not only a common name.
2. Note whether the source is a community-led project, a survey or a database summary.
3. Remember that a listed use is not an instruction.
4. Look for human trials before believing a benefit claim, and check the herb and product safety guidance.
5. Tell your clinician or pharmacist about any plant you use, especially with prescription medicines, pregnancy or children. [7]