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Article: Ethnobotany
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- Plant Sciences
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 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 generally defined as the scientific study of the relationships between plants and people. The fungi, while comprising a kingdom of life completely separate from plants, and, according to molecular evidence, are more closely related to animals than plants, have in practice been included within the scope of ethnobotanical research, although the term
ethnomycology
is sometimes employed to refer to the relationships between fungi and people. Additional terms are sometimes used to distinguish other subdisciplines of ethnobotany, such as
ethnopteridology
(the study of relationships between people and ferns and related plants), but for purposes of this encyclopedia, ...