ETHNOBOTANY: OLD SCIENCE_ NEW DISCIPLINE Etlrnobotany- Ethno: nation or race and culture1,botany: plants Researchon the usefulplants of a culture Isolatedcultures offer thebest opportunities for ethnobotanicalresearch

Bthnomedicine(subdiscipline) - Medicinalplants used by a culture

What EthnobotanyAttempts to do Investigate Analyze Conserve Teach Record Describe Publish Collect

Other DisciplinesImportant in Ethnobotanical Research Languageof the people Politicsof the area- communityapproval, government approval of studies, permits Geographyof the area Anthropologyof the people(belief systems,religion, origin, etc.) Botany of the area- taxonomy: classificationand identificationof plants, collectionsof voucherspecimens, distribution of collections,etc. Medicinal Chemistrv

Levels of Research Taxonomy of medicinalplants - collectingand identifyingplants; preservationand distribution of voucher specimens. Literature research for published information on medicinal species Natural Product Chemistry- exffaction, identification,and assayof compound Pharmacology- drug interaction,experimental work with lab animals, drug modeling Pre-ClinicalTrials Clinical Trials Drug Approval (USDA and others) Market (10-plusyears, $200-plus million)

Ethnobotanical Ethics Intellectual Propertyof the sociefy Culture contamination Exploitation of culture Conservation - of culture,property, plants and habitat,language, and technology of indigenouspeople THE ETHNOBOTANICAL APPROACH TO DRUG DISCOVERY

Cox, AC, and MJ Balick. 1994. The EthnobotanicalApproach to Drug Discovery. Sci. Amer. 270(16'):82-87 .

Ethnobotany- the study of the relationshipbetween plants and human culturesand societies.

Of an estimated265,000 flowering plant specieson earth lessthan I percenthas beenstudied exhaustivelyfor their chemicalcomposition and medicinaluse.

Methods of selectingplant speciesfor study of medicinalvalue

1. Random survey. Choosespecies at random for drug analysis.

2. Phylogeneticsurvey. Choosespecies within thosefamilies known as drug producers.

3. Ecologicalsurvey. Chooseecological areas where drug speciescommonly occur.

4. Ethnobotanical survey. Choosespecies currently usedby healerswithin a society. This method has proven to be the most productive. For best results:

A. The society should be located in afloristically diversearea. oThe tropical rain forest is an ideal location.

B. The sociefy should have lived there in the region for many generations. oThere must be ample time and opportunity to exploreand experimentwith local plants.

C. The culture must have atradition of oral history where healerstransmit knowledgefrom generationto generation. oUse of speciesfor an ailment over millennia generatesinformation similar to that produced by large'scale clinical trials.