Of Plants And People

Author : Charles Bixler Heiser
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 1985
Category : Science
ISBN : 0806124105

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Of Plants and People by Charles Bixler Heiser Pdf

What are the origins of agriculture? How did people learn to domesticate plants? How did they come to improve some? How did they learn special techniques for processing certain plants for food? In these highly personal and informal essays-old-fashioned botany, the author calls them-noted botanist Charles Heiser investigates those and other questions raised by the interactions of plants and people. His purpose is to try to find the origins of some of our domesticated plants and to consider other plants that might someday contribute to our food resources. In Of Plants and People, Heiser examines the origins of pumpkins, squashes, and other cucurbits. In The Totora and Thor, he digresses from food plants to trace the spread of the totora reed from South America to Pacific islands. Little Oranges of Quito is about the domestication of a wild plant, the naranjilla, that is going on today. Chenopods: From Weeds to the Halls of Montezuma concerns the uses of the Andean quinua and its relatives, and Sangorache and the Day of the Dead, A Trip to Tulcán, and Chochos and Other Lupines all examine Latin-American domestic plants that could contribute to our own foods. Green ‘Tomatoes’ and Purple 'Cucumbers, the tomate and the pepino, respectively, describes two other crops that have received scant notice in the United States. The subject of "How Many Kinds of Peppers Are There?" is the genus Capsicum, with its sweet green and hot red peppers and all their related species and varieties. Heiser again writes about nonfood plants in the essay "Peperomias," but in the next chapter, "Sumpweed," he discusses a plant that was once used for food but that has been neglected in favor of others. And in "A Plague of Locusts" the author compares the honey locust tree with a close relative to try to determine what gives particular plants advantages in certain environments. In his final essay, Seeds, Sex, and Sacrifice, Heiser relates myth, anthropological evidence, and botanical findings to review the connection between religion and the origin of agriculture. The audience for this book will include botanists, horticulturists, anthropologists, and any reader interested in the interrelationships between plants and people.

Author : James D. Mauseth
Publisher : Jones & Bartlett Publishers
Page : 524 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780763785505

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Plants & People by James D. Mauseth Pdf

Part of the Jones & Bartlett Learning Special Topics in Biology Series!Plants play a role in the environment, in food, beverage, and drug production, as well as human health. Written for the introductory, non-science major course, Plants and People outlines the practical, economical, and environmental aspects of plants' interaction with humans and the earth. Mauseth provides comprehensive coverage of plants in the environment --global warming, deforestation, biogeography -- as well as the role plants play in food, fiber, and medicine.

Author : Erin Lovell Verinder
Publisher : Thames & Hudson Australia
Page : 211 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2020-03-01
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9781760761691

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Plants for the People by Erin Lovell Verinder Pdf

Plants are our past. Plants are our future. We are diminished if we can't celebrate plants, properly understand their powers and harness their energy to heal ourselves. Plants for the People is an exploration of the plant world through the eyes of a master herbalist, weaving ancient wisdom with a modern approach to plant medicine. This is a beginner's guide to using plants to restore vitality and a general sense of wellbeing, with recipes for easy-to-make teas, tinctures, syrups, balms and baths. Throughout there are golden tips and tonics for addressing common ailments such as bloating, bad skin, lack of energy, winter coughs and colds, jangling nerves and many other present-day complaints. An evolution of herbal-medicine books of the past, Plants for the People is a modern presentation of an ancient craft. This is plant medicine's time to shine.

Author : Christopher Cumo
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2015-10-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781498707091

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Plants and People by Christopher Cumo Pdf

An exploration of the relationship between plants and people from early agriculture to modern-day applications of biotechnology in crop production, Plants and People: Origin and Development of Human-Plant Science Relationships covers the development of agricultural sciences from Roman times through the development of agricultural experiment station

Author : Marco Madella,Carla Lancelotti,Manon Savard
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
Page : 329 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2014-12-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780816527106

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Ancient Plants and People by Marco Madella,Carla Lancelotti,Manon Savard Pdf

Ancient Plants and People is a timely discussion of the global perspectives on archaeobotany and the rich harvest of knowledge it yields. Contributors examine the importance of plants to human culture over time and geographic regions and what it teaches of humans, their culture, and their landscapes.

Author : Michael J Balick,Paul Alan Cox
Publisher : Garland Science
Page : 487 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2020-08-19
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781000098488

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Plants, People, and Culture by Michael J Balick,Paul Alan Cox Pdf

Is it possible that plants have shaped the very trajectory of human cultures? Using riveting stories of fieldwork in remote villages, two of the world’s leading ethnobotanists argue that our past and our future are deeply intertwined with plants. Creating massive sea craft from plants, indigenous shipwrights spurred the navigation of the world’s oceans. Today, indigenous agricultural innovations continue to feed, clothe, and heal the world’s population. One out of four prescription drugs, for example, were discovered from plants used by traditional healers. Objects as common as baskets for winnowing or wooden boxes to store feathers were ornamented with traditional designs demonstrating the human ability to understand our environment and to perceive the cosmos. Throughout the world, the human body has been used as the ultimate canvas for plant-based adornment as well as indelible design using tattoo inks. Plants also garnered religious significance, both as offerings to the gods and as a doorway into the other world. Indigenous claims that plants themselves are sacred is leading to a startling reformulation of conservation. The authors argue that conservation goals can best be achieved by learning from, rather than opposing, indigenous peoples and their beliefs. KEY FEATURES • An engrossing narrative that invites the reader to personally engage with the relationship between plants, people, and culture • Full-color illustrations throughout—including many original photographs captured by the authors during fieldwork • New to this edition—"Plants That Harm," a chapter that examines the dangers of poisonous plants and the promise that their study holds for novel treatments for some of our most serious diseases, including Alzheimer’s and substance addiction • Additional readings at the end of each chapter to encourage further exploration • Boxed features on selected topics that offer further insight • Provocative questions to facilitate group discussion Designed for the college classroom as well as for lay readers, this update of Plants, People, and Culture entices the reader with firsthand stories of fieldwork, spectacular illustrations, and a deep respect for both indigenous peoples and the earth’s natural heritage.

Author : Maurice Mességué
Publisher : Inner Traditions / Bear & Co
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 1991-10
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0892814373

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Of People and Plants by Maurice Mességué Pdf

This autobiography, flavored by Messeque's rich French heritage and the depth of his knowledge of native plant medicine, offers detailed information about the use of specific plants in treating a wide variety of ailments. Comprehensive appendices describe preparations for the principal chronic diseases and provide recommendations for seasonal and nutritional use of plants for optimal health.

Author : Matthew Hall
Publisher : State University of New York Press
Page : 251 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2011-05-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781438434308

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Plants as Persons by Matthew Hall Pdf

Plants are people too? No, but in this work of philosophical botany Matthew Hall challenges readers to reconsider the moral standing of plants, arguing that they are other-than-human persons. Plants constitute the bulk of our visible biomass, underpin all natural ecosystems, and make life on Earth possible. Yet plants are considered passive and insensitive beings rightly placed outside moral consideration. As the human assault on nature continues, more ethical behavior toward plants is needed. Hall surveys Western, Eastern, Pagan, and Indigenous thought as well as modern science for attitudes toward plants, noting the particular resources for plant personhood and those modes of thought which most exclude plants. The most hierarchical systems typically put plants at the bottom, but Hall finds much to support a more positive view of plants. Indeed, some indigenous animisms actually recognize plants as relational, intelligent beings who are the appropriate recipeints of care and respect. New scientific findings encourage this perspective, revealing that plants possess many of the capacities of sentience and mentality traditionally denied them.

Author : Alexandre Chevalier,Elena Marinova,Leonor Pena-Chocarro
Publisher : Oxbow Books
Page : 525 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2014-04-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781782970330

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Plants and People by Alexandre Chevalier,Elena Marinova,Leonor Pena-Chocarro Pdf

This first monograph in the EARTH series, The dynamics of non-industrial agriculture: 8,000 years of resilience and innovation, approaches the great variety of agricultural practices in human terms. It focuses on the relationship between plants and people, the complexity of agricultural processes and their organisation within particular communities and societies. Collaborative European research among archaeologists, archaeobotanists, ethnographers, historians and agronomists using a broad analytical scale of investigation seeks to establish new common ground for integrating different approaches. By means of interdisciplinary examples, this book showcases the relationship between people and plants across wide ranging and diverse spatial and temporal milieus, including crop diversity, the use of wild foodstuffs, social context, status and choices of food plants.

Author : Eran Pichersky
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 190 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2018-07-27
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780429871924

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Plants and Human Conflict by Eran Pichersky Pdf

Perhaps the least appreciated dramatis personae in human history are plants. Humans, like all other animals, cannot produce their own food as plants do through photosynthesis, and must therefore acquire organic material for survival and growth by eating plants or by eating other animals that eat plants. Humans depend on plants not only as a food source, but also as building and clothing materials and as sources of medicines, psychoactive substances, spices, pigments, and more. With plants being such valuable resources, it is therefore not surprising that plants have been involved in practically all violent conflicts among different human societies. Ironically, plants have also been the source of materials to construct weapons or weapon parts. Wars have always constituted a large part of human history, and the overall theme of this book is that to understand the history of violent human conflict, we need to understand what specific materials plants make that people find so useful and worth fighting over, and what roles such plant products have played in specific conflicts. To do so, Plants and Human Conflict begins with a chapter explaining the basic biological facts of the interdependence between plants and humans, and the subsequent seven chapters describe the physical and chemical properties of specific plant products demonstrating how the human need for these products has led to wars as well as contributed to the prosecution of wars. These chapters recount some well-known (and some lesser known) historical events in which plants have played a central role. This book uniquely combines the modern scientific knowledge of plants with the human history of war, introducing readers to a new paradigm that will make them reconsider their understanding of human history, as well as to bring about a greater appreciation of plant biology.

Author : Nancy J. Turner
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Page : 480 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2020-08-20
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780228003175

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Plants, People, and Places by Nancy J. Turner Pdf

For millennia, plants and their habitats have been fundamental to the lives of Indigenous Peoples - as sources of food and nutrition, medicines, and technological materials - and central to ceremonial traditions, spiritual beliefs, narratives, and language. While the First Peoples of Canada and other parts of the world have developed deep cultural understandings of plants and their environments, this knowledge is often underrecognized in debates about land rights and title, reconciliation, treaty negotiations, and traditional territories. Plants, People, and Places argues that the time is long past due to recognize and accommodate Indigenous Peoples' relationships with plants and their ecosystems. Essays in this volume, by leading voices in philosophy, Indigenous law, and environmental sustainability, consider the critical importance of botanical and ecological knowledge to land rights and related legal and government policy, planning, and decision making in Canada, the United States, Sweden, and New Zealand. Analyzing specific cases in which Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights to the environment have been denied or restricted, this collection promotes future prosperity through more effective and just recognition of the historical use of and care for plants in Indigenous cultures. A timely book featuring Indigenous perspectives on reconciliation, environmental sustainability, and pathways toward ethnoecological restoration, Plants, People, and Places reveals how much there is to learn from the history of human relationships with nature.

Author : Paul E. Minnis
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
Page : 492 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2024-06-25
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0816502234

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People and plants in ancient western North America by Paul E. Minnis Pdf

Author : Carlton Wood,Nicolette Habgood
Publisher : Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : NWU:35556041071598

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Why People Need Plants by Carlton Wood,Nicolette Habgood Pdf

With its clear, unambiguous text, diagrams and illustration, Why People Need Plants is a wide-ranging andattractive introduction to the science behind the essential functions performed by plants.

Author : N. P. Manandhar
Publisher : Timber Press (OR)
Page : 599 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Science
ISBN : 0881925276

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Plants and People of Nepal by N. P. Manandhar Pdf

Decades of firsthand study of the ethnobotanical riches of Nepal's flora and the human uses thereof, including field research in all 75 districts of Nepal.

Author : Michael Pollan
Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2002-05-28
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780375760396

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The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan Pdf

“Pollan shines a light on our own nature as well as on our implication in the natural world.” —The New York Times “A wry, informed pastoral.” —The New Yorker The book that helped make Michael Pollan, the New York Times bestselling author of How to Change Your Mind, Cooked and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, one of the most trusted food experts in America Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?