The Appeal of Ethnobotanical Folklore Records: Medicinal Plant Use in Setomaa, Räpina and Vastseliina Parishes, Estonia (1888–1996)

Sõukand, Renata; Kalle, Raivo

doi:10.3390/plants11202698

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In addition to a spatial and socio-political perspective, a diachronic perspective could further contribute to our understanding of the complex dynamics of local ecological knowledge in the Alpine environment. Historical ethnobotanical studies in Europe have often focused on the eastern portion of the continent, where ethnobotanical archival data from the 19th and 20th centuries [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ] are frequently available. These studies have generally shown a decrease in wild food plant-centered LEK, while local medicinal plant reports are not only fading but often re-arranged via influences of printed media.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal Changes in the Use of Wild Medicinal Plants in Trentino–South Tyrol, Northern Italy

Mattalia,

Graetz,

Harms

et al. 2023

Plants

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Mountain regions are fragile ecosystems and often host remarkably rich biodiversity, and thus they are especially under threat from ongoing global changes. Located in the Eastern Alps, Trentino–South Tyrol is bioculturally diverse but an understudied region from an ethnobotanical perspective. We explored the ethnomedicinal knowledge of the area from a cross-cultural and diachronic perspective by conducting semi-structured interviews with 22 local inhabitants from Val di Sole (Trentino) and 30 from Überetsch–Unterland (South Tyrol). Additionally, we compared the results with ethnobotanical studies conducted in Trentino and South Tyrol over 25 years ago. The historical comparison revealed that about 75% of the plants currently in use were also used in the past in each study region. We argue that the adoption of “new” medicinal species could have occurred through printed and social media and other bibliographical sources but may also be due to limitations in conducting the comparison (i.e., different taxonomic levels and different methodologies). The inhabitants of Val di Sole and Überetsch–Unterland have shared most medicinal plants over the past few decades, yet the most used species diverge (perhaps due to differences in local landscapes), and in South Tyrol, people appear to use a higher number of medicinal plants, possibly because of the borderland nature of the area.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal Changes in the Use of Wild Medicinal Plants in Trentino–South Tyrol, Northern Italy

Mattalia,

Graetz,

Harms

et al. 2023

Plants

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“…We recommend the following steps in order to increase the resilience of local biocultural diversity and local ecological knowledge in modern (and often highly literate) communities: inclusion of local ecological knowledge in school curricula, in which practical activities need to start as early as elementary school; introduction of ritual elements into the local use of plants (e.g., specific seasonal festivities for wild food plant uses), shared herbal tea making evenings, communal collection events of shared ecological resources, and so forth; and highlighting local historical uses in herbals, cookbooks, and various popularizing activities, stressing the importance of keeping alive local ecological practices and the transfer of knowledge to younger generations. However, the use of “raw” historical data is not suggested, as it needs to be filtered by specialists able to contextualize this type of data (for more details, see Sõukand & Kalle, 2022). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is considered that modern European (especially medical) ethnobotany is mainly based on ancient herbals and later popularizing books (Leonti, 2011). Yet among the historical data, there are some cases considerably less affected by written knowledge that have a clear connection with the local flora and local understanding of diseases (Kalle et al, 2022; Kalle & Sõukand, 2021; Prakofjewa et al, 2022; Sõukand & Kalle, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of the continuity of practice: Ethnobotany of Kihnu island (Estonia) from 1937 to 2021

Sõukand,

Kalle,

Prakofjewa

et al. 2023

Plants People Planet

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Societal Impact StatementLocal knowledge is highly endangered in the modern world, and therefore, it is important to understand the factors contributing to the preservation of biocultural diversity. Three major aspects were identified: continuity of the practice, support for the ritual related to the use, and external acknowledgment of the local use by an authoritative source. Moreover, strong centralization of current local knowledge in institutionalized domains (ethnomedicine) was identified, which has excluded unacknowledged or officially unapproved local knowledge from circulation. The inclusion of local ecological knowledge as a practice in school curricula and the highlighting of local historical uses in herbals and popularizing activities are recommended.Summary Plant use in local communities changes over time along with changing social, political, economic, and environmental conditions. The study aimed to understand the factors influencing the continuity of certain interactions between plants and people. To understand the drivers of resilience of the use of local flora, the historical (1930s) and current (2021) uses of plants on the small island of Kihnu in Estonia were compared, and the resilient uses were identified. Use resilience depended on the use domain. While the ethnoveterinary domain completely disappeared, the most resilient uses were those related to ritual (religious) activities, with 75% being retained (6 of 8 taxa used historically). This was followed by the wild food plant domain, in which 66% of taxa (21 of 32) have been retained, along with the highest proportion of taxa‐use combinations (57%, 21 of 37). Historically the largest domain, ethnomedicine showed low resilience: 18 of 73 taxa have been retained, with only eight emic (or local) plant uses (PU). Moreover, we observed that 75% of the retained emic PU (6 out of 8) were supported by a centralized medical system, while this proportion was 87% for current uses and only 15% for interrupted uses that were promoted or acknowledged in centralized herbals. As the most important aspects influencing the resilience of plant use are the continuity of practice, ritualization, and external support for usage, the inclusion of local ecological knowledge as a practice in school curricula and the highlighting of local historical uses in herbals and popularizing activities are strongly recommended.

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“…The credibility of such historical identifications was also extensively discussed by Łuczaj [ 59 ]. A similar methodology has been used in other historical ethnobotany publications in the same special issue, Historical Ethnobotany: Interpreting the Old Records (e.g., [ 68 , 69 , 70 ]. Identification was facilitated by the voucher specimen collection supplied by Federowski.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plants and Other Materials Used for Dyeing in the Present Territory of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine according to Rostafiński’s Questionnaire from 1883

Köhler

Bystry²,

Łuczaj

2023

Plants

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Background: Traditional dyeing methods are practically forgotten in Poland. Józef Rostafiński included questions on the use of dyes in his ethnobotanical survey from 1883. Methods: 126 questionnaires contained information on dye plants. They were identified by the respondents using folk names or sometimes even Latin names. Folk names were analyzed by comparison with other literature. Several voucher specimens were also present. Results: 74 plant taxa were identified to genus or species level. The most commonly used were: onion (Allium cepa), brazilwood (Caesalpinia brasiliensis or Paubrasilia echinata), winter corn (mainly rye Secale cereale), black alder (Alnus glutinosa), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), apple (Malus domestica), birch (Betula pendula), oak (Quercus robur), and violet flowering spring flowers (mainly Hepatica nobilis and Pulsatilla spp.). Conclusions: Most species are well known in the literature about plant dyeing, but the paper provides extra details on the picture of dyeing traditions in Eastern Europe.

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The Appeal of Ethnobotanical Folklore Records: Medicinal Plant Use in Setomaa, Räpina and Vastseliina Parishes, Estonia (1888–1996)

Cited by 5 publications

References 24 publications

Temporal Changes in the Use of Wild Medicinal Plants in Trentino–South Tyrol, Northern Italy

Temporal Changes in the Use of Wild Medicinal Plants in Trentino–South Tyrol, Northern Italy

The importance of the continuity of practice: Ethnobotany of Kihnu island (Estonia) from 1937 to 2021

Plants and Other Materials Used for Dyeing in the Present Territory of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine according to Rostafiński’s Questionnaire from 1883

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