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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"A beautiful catalogue of 80 plants, revered by indigenous people for their nourishing, healing, and symbolic properties." —Gardens Illustrated The belief that all life-forms are interconnected and share the same breath—known in the Rarámuri tribe as iwígara—has resulted in a treasury of knowledge about the natural world, passed down for millennia by native cultures. Ethnobotanist Enrique Salmón builds on this concept of connection and highlights 80 plants revered by North America’s indigenous peoples. Salmón teaches us the ways plants are used as food and medicine, the details of their identification and harvest, their important health benefits, plus their role in traditional stories and myths. Discover in these pages how the timeless wisdom of iwígara can enhance your own kinship with the natural world.

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