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Article: Ethnobotany
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Ethnobotany
Ethnobotany is a field of study that combines botany (the study of plants), anthropology (the study of human cultures), and medicine. Plants have been the original sources of many medicines used in all past and current societies. Many species of plants are biochemically quite complex, in part because they have had to evolve chemical defenses to deter herbivores and protect against attack from fungal, viral, and bacterial diseases. Thus, many of these same chemicals have been exploited by humans as treatment or prevention of diseases.
Ethnobotanists visit and learn from traditional healers in order to try to identify plants with valuable uses, particularly medicinal uses. ...