Every branch of science has a methodology, to study and to elaborate knowledge, so does Ethnobotany. The methodological aspects of Ethnobotany includes the following:
1. Field work
2. Herbarium
3. Ancient Literature
4. Archeological findings
5. Sacred places.
FIELD WORK
An ethnobotanical inventory includes field work, that is vising the area of interest and collecting information from the people inhabiting the locality. It is the main and most time consuming part of ethnobotanical study. For a field study, you have to arrange the following things before the study begins:
1. Mode of transportation- Choose an appropriate mode of transportation such as bus, train, flight, private taxi based on the availability of funds. Bike is a cheap mode of transportation when the number of the team is less.
2. Accommodation and food- Most places in the forest do not have any accommodation at all. In such cases a portable tent can be useful. Arranging accommodation at the houses of local people can be an option at some places. Carrying a gasoline travelling stove and some utensils can be very helpful if the field trip is for many days. Van life is a cheaper mode of field study, so that you can save a lot money which otherwise go for staying expenses.
3. Making a route map and travel schedule- You must have prepare a route map and travel schedule. This is essential especially when your field visit involve international destinations and air travel. The early you book ticket, the better. You should decide which are the spots for data collection, so that there is clarity about the entire trip.
4. Essential equipment- Camera, notepad, pen etc are essential for any field trip.
5. Essential medicines- You can carry personal and essential medicines because medical shops may not be available in forest destinations.
6. Survey questionnaire- Field work involves surveying native people, so it is essential that we have a set of questions to ask with them. Enlist the important things you would like to ask during the survey part.
Once you are prepared, you can start the field work. The field work involves the following things
1. House surveys- You can visit villages of ethnic communities and ask your queries to the villagers. You may have to visit a few houses, meet people and interact with them. Sometimes many ethnic people will not show interest to share information with you and you can not force anyone to co-operate with you. Be gentle and inform the purpose of your survey. The more people become comfortable they may open up things with you.
2. Plant collection- It is important to collect plants for making herbaria of your trip. Collect twigs of plants with a few leaves and flowers. Use a siccature or blade or scissors for this purpose.
3. Filed notes- Write down the important data you have gathered, such as name of the species, uses, available places, GPS location, vernacular name of the plant, name of the informant, gender, sex, age, education, which part of the plant is used, how it is used, fresh or dry, how it is administered, for how long the treatment is needed etc.
4. Photography- You can take a few photographs of the locality, people and the plants for future reference. If the villagers are not interested in taking photograph, better leave it. But it is essential that you take photographs of the plants of interest, for later identification purposes.
Most workers do not prefer short term trips for field works, instead they stay there for a year or more live with the people as one among them. This makes them understand and collect two types of data; the cultural data and scientific data. They keep a research diary in hand to record day to day progress of work. Interviews can be recorded using devices for future reference.
HERBARIUM PREPARATION
Herbaria are dry plant specimens collected from the field and stored for future reference, identification etc. It was Luca Ghini in the 16th century who started the practice of making herbaria and it is still one of the important methodologies used in plant taxonomy, morphology, economic botany and ethnobotany. You can visit the international herbarium at Royal Botanical Garden, Kew by clicking the link. The Central National Herbarium is located at Calcutta.
You may need knife, blade, scissors, plastic bags, field book and vasculum for the purpose of collecting the plants. A suitable twig will be collected and stored in the vasculum until reaching a proper place for pressing the plants. Bloating papers are used to dry the specimens, which will be kept in a wooden or metallic press. The pressed materials are to be checked after 24 hours and the bloating papers are replaced. A drier can be used to dry the specimens. To avoid fungal and insect attacks formalin, mercuric chloride, naphthalene balls etc. are used
Mounting of the dried specimens will be carried out using standard herbarium sheets. Glues such as Fevicol can be used for this purpose. Labels have to pasted on the herbarium sheets to display information such as name of the species, place of collection, date of collection, morphological notes, name of the collector etc.
Storage of the herbarium sheets can be done in wooden or metallic cabinets arranged in alphabetical order.
ANCIENT LITERATURE
Ethnobotany gathers a lot of benefits from ancient literature as it deals with information from the lives of ancient people. Examples of ancient literature used in Ethnobotany include Charaka samhitha, Vrikshayurveda, Ashtanga Hridayam etc.
Charaka samhitha is a sankrit text of ayurveda written by Charaka (100-500 AD). The text has eight books and a total of 120 chapters. Sushrutha samhitha was composed by Sushrutha (200-500 AD). It has 186 chapters and deals with 1120 diseases, 700 medicinals plants, 57 animal resources and 64 mineral resources. Ashtanga hridaya is one of the most important foundations of Ayurveda and said to have written by ancient sage Vagbhata.
Van Rheede (1678- 1693) compiled Hortus malabaricus with the help of Collatt Vaidyan and Itty Achuthan, which deals with the important plants of Malabar. Ezhava community contributed some important texts such as Yogamritham by Uppott Kannan, Oushadhi Nighandu by Thayyil Kumaran Krishnan and Keralaramam by Itty Achuthan.
Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, documented 200 plants of medicinal importance.
ARCHEOLOGICAL FINDINGS
The relationship with ancient people and plants are dealt in Archaeobotany based on the plant remains found from ancient locations. Archaeobotanical samples are of two types- Micro-botanical remains and macro-botanical remains based on the size of the material. Macro-botanical studies include seeds, fruits, nuts, wood charcoal etc. Micro-botanical remains are mainly pollen, phytoliths, starch and diatoms.
SACRED PLACES
Humans worshipped natural forces from the pre-historic times, believing that nature punishes for bad deeds and offered specific materials such as flowers and fruits to impress the deities. Sacred grove system and temple systems have evolved from this concept. Plants are conserved in sacred groves. Plants fall into the following categories based on it's uses in sacred places;
1. Plants used in temple rituals throughout the year- Tulsi, Koovalam
2. Plants whose flowers and leaves are offered and planted near temple premises- Ixora,
3. Fruit trees whose fruits are used for temple functions- Annona, Mango
4. Plants used to make sacred fire in Homa ritual- Calophyllum, Ricinus
5. Plants used to make temple dishes, prasada etc- banana, sugar cane, grapes
6- Plants used to make utensils and decoration- Polyalthia, Musa, Santalum.
All the best!
Shijith Puthan Purayil
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