Ethnobotany describes the relationship between people and plants. Research illustrating this relationship, both in New Zealand and abroad, is largely scattered throughout a number of disciplines including anthropology, botany and ecology. This review examines the ethnobotany field overall and evaluates the contributions made in three main areas of ethnobotanical research. First, the issues that have arisen in the field of ethnobotany globally and the changes that have taken place are analysed. Second, details of the relationships between Māori and New Zealand plants and how these issues may affect research undertaken in New Zealand are outlined. Third, future research avenues and opportunities in ethnobotany are defined. To explore theories which underpin the use of plants, the focus needs to shift from historical analyses of plant uses to a better description of what is occurring today. Increasingly, ethnobotanical research will require the application of scientific rigour, interdisciplinary collaboration and working with communities.

The behaviour and risk associated with wood-inhabiting saprobic fungi introduced through trade is poorly understood. We used the cosmopolitan species Schizophyllum commune, considered a biosecurity risk in New Zealand, as a case study to test the potential for naturalization of alien strains/populations of wood-inhabiting saprobic fungi to occur. Phylogenetic analysis of the intergenic spacer 1 region was undertaken to determine the origin of New Zealand samples and one Cook Islands sample from the three known globally geographically distinct clades: North/Central America (NAM); South America (SAM); European/Asia/Australia (EAS). All New Zealand S. commune sequences fall within the EAS clade in two distinct groups with four haplotypes (Ia, Ib, IIb and IIa), with no evidence of naturalization of individuals from the NAM and SAM clades. The diversity of the haplotypes can be explained by two natural dispersal events in pre-human times. Ensuring timber is sufficiently treated will prevent alien populations possibly outcompeting native populations.

Video has been identified as a valuable tool in the provision of ethnobotanical data. One of the principal uses of video in ethnobotanical research is in documenting plant practices. The main benefit of using video to record this type of ethnobotanical data is the ability to record the practice in its entirety. Another benefit is the ability for the footage to be revisited at a later date, allowing for further interpretation of the plant practice. Along with the benefits, there are also ethical and practical considerations when applying video as a documenting tool. This paper outlines some of these considerations while providing guidelines on the pre-production, production and post-production stages of video creation with a focus on documenting plant practices. Taking into consideration these benefits and the practical implications of applying video it is suggested that video be considered a valuable tool in documenting ethnobotanical research. IntroductionSince the earliest ethnographic film in 1895 capturing cultural practices using film, and more recently video, has become a well-established practice in anthropology and ethnography (de Brigard 1995). From these early beginnings visual anthropology has expanded to incorporate the study of visual forms and visual systems in their cultural context (Bank 1998). Many films have been produced in the past including the well known examples by John Marshall on the Kalahari bushmen, Timothy Asch working with the Yanomamo Indians, and Margaret Mead who studied Samoan youth (Hockings 1995).Although the focus of visual anthropological film and video is on the people, they are likely to contain images of plant use as well. For example, films in the Asch-Chagnon series on the Yanomamo Indians, produced in the 1970s, show the day to day agricultural practices associated with traditional crops of plantain and manioc (Asch & Chagnon 1974). In comparison to the wealth of ethnographic film there are relatively few ethnobotanical videos that describe aspects of plant knowledge, such as plant classification and ecology. This is surprising since video has been identified as a valuable tool in the provision of ethnobotanical data at least since 1994 (Given & Harris 1994).Videos that describe the relationships between people and plants can be found in a number of disciplines with varying audiences. Examples of ethnobotanical videos can be organized into three main groups based on their general audiences. The first group are educational ethnobotanical videos aimed at people working with communities in fields such as ethnoecology and conservation, or in teaching ethnobotany (Cunningham 2003, Peters 2003a, 2003b . The last group of videos has been produced with the community as the target audience. One of the main aims of these videos is to encourage the retention of ethnobotanical knowledge within the community (Galileo Educational Network 2002-2007.The examples presented above indicate videos are being used to disseminate ethnobotanical data effectively to a range of audiences...

Descriptions of human and plant interactions at a local, regional, and global level drive the need for ethnobotanists to use tools from a variety of disciplines including paleoethnobtany, historical ecology, phylogenetics and historical linguistics. The comparative method from historical linguistics was used in this study to test the hypothesis: fungi were an important resource used by Polynesian peoples in the past, with little change in recent history. A comprehensive literature search of ethnographical works was undertaken to collate the various Polynesian terms for fungi. Corresponding terms for fungi, or cognates, were used to reconstruct words from the Proto Polynesian language, based on regular sound changes. Of the 117 terms for fungi found in 23 Polynesian languages, 25 cognates were used to reconstruct four (4) Proto Polynesian terms: three life form folk taxa *talinga, *seka and *limu and one folk generic *talinga kimoa. These Proto Polynesian terms were then compared to the modern lexicon to discuss the spatial and temporal use of fungi in Polynesia. Differences in the number of modern terms and evidence of binomials indicate changes in the perception and use of fungi in at least two cultures, New Zealand Māori and Marquesan. Results also suggest a wide distribution of the folk generic centered on the scientific genus Auricularia. Evidence of only one folk generic with morphological associations and a lack of subordinate folk taxa suggest that fungi were not a culturally salient resource to the Proto Polynesian peoples. Nevertheless, the presence of terms for macro fungi suggests obvious gross patterns of stem habit and bodily form were recognized. There are major limitations when using historical linguistics to describe the use of resources including the requirement for well recorded and closely related languages. Working with a linguist and encouraging researchers to ask more in-depth questions will go some way to combat these limitations. Further research is needed in the Cook Islands, Samoa, and the Marquesas to develop a clearer understanding of fungi as a resource in Polynesia.