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Bedouin ethnobotany: Plant concepts and plant use in a desert pastoral world Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Mandaville, James Paul Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 09/10/2021 11:40:39 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/290142 BEDOUIN ETHNOBOTANY: PLANT CONCEPTS AND PLANT USE IN A DESERT PASTORAL WORLD by James Paul Mandaville Copyright © James Paul Mandaville 2004 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the GRADUATE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM IN ARID LANDS RESOURCE SCIENCES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2004 UMI Number: 3158126 Copyright 2004 by Mandaville, James Paul All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3158126 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 2 The University of Arizona ® Graduate College As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by James Paul Mandaville entitled Bedouin Ethnobotany: Plant Concepts and Plant Use in a Desert Pastoral World and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy /0/»S-/6f Suzanne K. Fish ^ ^ ^ Mkhael E. Bonine ^^Xtrc—P l/hi.] 2^^ Oc,irJ*€^ 2xx>^ '^Steven P. McLaughfin date date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fu filling the dissertation requirement. \{ jzzj 0^ Dissertation Director: Suzanne K. Fish date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks, first, to members of my major committee headed by Professor Suzanne Fish and including Professors Michael Bonine and Steven McLaughlin, all of whose encouragement and critique were more valuable than they probably realize. Cecil Brown, Professor Emeritus, Northern Illinois University, generously read and commented on a draft of chapters dealing with folk classification. His suggestions led to a number of changes that significantly improved the text. Sally Onnen Duncan, while often gently guiding me back from peripheral pursuits, provided continuing assistance with all things digital including graphics and the finer points of word processing, not to speak of textual criticism and proof reading. Muhammad Tahlawi, at Dhahran, provided valuable checks and comments on several linguistic points. Discussions with Geraiyan Al-Hajri helped clarify issues of folk classification. John Pratt, another Dhahran colleague, facilitated late contacts that plugged data gaps. Greg Dowling led me to economic statistics. I remember also my late geologist colleague, Syd Bowers, whose last words to me were "Jim, you have to finish your degree." I thank the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) for use of two photographs and two figures. My debt to my Bedouin consultants is of course enormous. The names of the most generous of these data contributors are listed at the end of Chapter 4. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 9 LIST OF TABLES 11 ABSTRACT 12 PREFACE 14 1. INTRODUCTION 17 1.1. Introductory Remarks 17 1.2. The Development of Folk Classification Theory 22 2. THE STUDY AREA 41 2.1. Geology and Topography 42 2.2. Climate 48 2.3. Flora and Vegetation 58 3. THE PEOPLE 67 4. CONSULTANTS, LANGUAGE AND WORK PROCEDURES 85 4.1. Najdi Arabic 85 4.2. Transcription of Bedouin Speech 88 4.3. Working Procedures 91 5. STARS, LAND AND PLANTS 95 6. PLANT USES 122 6.1. Plants for Grazing 122 6.1.1. The Camel 123 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS - continued 6.1.2. Grazing Practice 131 6.1.3. Important Pasture Communities 138 6.1.4. Toxic Plants 141 6.2. Fuel and Firemaking 144 6.3. Wild Plants for Food 151 6.3.1. Roots, Tubers and Bulbs 153 6.3.2. Edible Stalks or Stems 156 6.3.3. Greens Eaten Raw 159 6.3.4. Edible Fruits and Flowers 163 6.3.5. Seeds and Grains 165 6.3.6. Gums and Other Exudates 169 6.3.7. Flavorings and Food Additives 170 6.3.8. Truffles and Mushrooms 170 6.4. Medicinal Uses of Plants 179 6.4.1. List of Medicinal Plants 181 6.4.2. Veterinary Medicinals 189 6.4.3. Medicinal Plants Sold by Herbalists 191 6.5. Tanning and Dyestuffs 200 6.6. Soaps, Cosmetics and Dental Hygiene 205 6.7. Gunpowder 210 6.8. Crafts and Construction 212 6.9. Incense 215 6.10. Insect Repellents 217 6.11. Children's Games 218 7. THE ORIGIN AND PURPOSE OF PLANT LIFE 219 8. PLANT ANATOMICAL TERMS 221 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS - continued 9. CLASSIFICATION AND NOMENCLATURE 224 9.1. Plants as a Kingdom 224 9.2. Life Forms 229 9.3. Intermediate Categories 238 9.4. Folk Generics and Subgenerics 249 9.5. Mainly Linguistic 258 9.5.1. Form Patterns in Plant Names 258 9.5.2. The Question of Semantic Transparency 264 9.5.3. Attributes in Analyzable Plant Names 266 9.6. Variation in Generic Names 269 9.7. Growth Stage Generics 272 9.8. Classification and Subsistence Mode 274 9.8.1. Data Summary: East African Pastoralists 280 9.8.2. Discussion 283 10. DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF GENERICS AND SUBGENERICS 287 11. PLANTS AS VEGETATION AND PLACE 385 11.1. Vegetation Terminology 385 11.2. Plants in Topography 387 12. PLANTS AND THE SUPERNATURAL 395 13. BEDOUIN PLANT LORE IN SPACE AND TIME 399 14. INDIGENOUS BOTANICAL KNOWLEDGE IN A CHANGING WORLD 410 15. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 414 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS - continued APPENDIX A: PRESENT-DAY AND EARLY ISLAMIC PLANT NAMES 423 APPENDIX B: BERLIN'S 1992 PRINCIPLES OF ETHNOBIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION AND NOMENCLATURE 429 WORKS CITED 432 9 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Maps Map 2.1. Arabian Peninsula, showing study area 41 Map 2.2. Central and northern Arabian Peninsula showing place names mentioned in the text 43 Figures Figure 1.1. Relationships of lexeme types 27 Figure 1.2. Diagram of Berlin, Breedlove and Raven's 1973 folk classification model 29 Figure 1.3. Telescoping Venn diagram of Berlin (1992) 33 Figure 1.4. Plant life form encoding sequence and language stages 35 Figure 2.1. Monthly average temperature and humidity at Abqaiq 51 Figure 2.2. Mean wind speed and direction at Abqaiq 54 Figure 6.1. Bedouin classification of livestock 122 Figure 9.1. Plant life forms 231 Figure 9.2. Bedouin life forms, intermediates, and unaffiliated generics 249 Figure 9.3. Composition of the generic, hurbuth 253 10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - continued Plates Plate 3.1. Consultant Juhaysh ibn Mutlaq of the Dawasir tribe displays coffee-making implements 71 Plate 5.1. Consultants Khulayf, of the Shammar tribe, and Muhammad ibn Khursan of Qahtan at the coffee fire 96 Plate 5.2. Erecting the "house of hair" 101 Plate 5.3. Sister and brother of the Al Murrah tribe return to the tent with edible wild plants 114 Plate 6.1. Camels watering at a drilled well 124 Plate 6.2. Consultant 'All ibn Hamad of Al Murrah makes coffee using dried camel dung for fuel 147 Plate 6.3. A desert truffle cracking the ground 176 Plate 6.4. A truffle excavated, in place 176 Plate 6.5. Hunting truffles 177 Plate 6.6. Desert truffles for sale in an open market 177 Plate 6.7. A consultant of Bani Hajir demonstrates how he hobbles his camel 213 11 LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1. Rainfall Data, Eastern Province Stations 50 Table 2.2. Mean Annual Evaporation Rates, South-Central to Eastern Saudi Arabia 52 Table 2.3. P/PE Ratios for Three Study Area Stations 57 Table 2.4. Survey Data, Rimth Saltbush Shrubland 60 Table 2.5. Annuals in 'Arfaj Shrubland 61 Table 4.1. Bedouin Arabic Phonetics and Transcription 90 Table 9.1. "The Seven Hamrf Plants" 242 Table 9.2. Bedouin Polytypic Folk Generics 256 Table 13.1. Comparison of Western Saharan and Najdl Arabic Plant Names 400 Table 15.1. Statistical Summary of Scientific and Folk Taxa 420 12 ABSTRACT Modem botanical folk classification theory developed from studies of small-scale agriculturists, secondarily of hunter-gatherers.