Diverse in Local, Overlapping in Official Medical Botany: Critical Analysis of Medicinal Plant Records from the Historic Regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe, 1829–1895
Works on historical ethnobotany can help shed light on past plant uses and humankind’s relationships with the environment. We analyzed medicinal plant uses from the historical regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe based on three studies published within the 19th century by medical doct...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Plants |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/8/1065 |
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| author | Julia Prakofjewa Martin Anegg Raivo Kalle Andra Simanova Baiba Prūse Andrea Pieroni Renata Sõukand |
| author_facet | Julia Prakofjewa Martin Anegg Raivo Kalle Andra Simanova Baiba Prūse Andrea Pieroni Renata Sõukand |
| author_sort | Julia Prakofjewa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Works on historical ethnobotany can help shed light on past plant uses and humankind’s relationships with the environment. We analyzed medicinal plant uses from the historical regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe based on three studies published within the 19th century by medical doctors researching local ethnomedicine. The sources were manually searched, and information extracted and entered into a database. In total, there were 603 detailed reports of medicinal plant use, which refer to 219 taxa belonging to 69 families and one unidentified local taxon. Dominant families were Asteraceae (14%), Solanaceae (7%), Rosaceae (6%), and Apiaceae (5%). The majority of use reports were attributed to the treatment of four disease categories: digestive (24%), skin (22%), respiratory (11%), and general (11%). The small overlapping portion (14 taxa mentioned by all three authors and another 27 taxa named by two authors) contained a high proportion of taxa (46%) mentioned in Dioscorides, which were widespread during that period in scholarly practice. Despite the shared flora, geographical vicinity, and culturally similar backgrounds, the medicinal use of plants in historical Courland and Livonia showed high biocultural diversity and reliance on wild taxa. We encourage researchers to study and re-evaluate the historical ethnobotanical literature and provide some suggestions on how to do this effectively. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:16:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1a3a4bb97e774a85b25ebc1050a27053 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2223-7747 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:16:43Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Plants |
| spelling | doaj.art-1a3a4bb97e774a85b25ebc1050a270532023-12-03T13:52:00ZengMDPI AGPlants2223-77472022-04-01118106510.3390/plants11081065Diverse in Local, Overlapping in Official Medical Botany: Critical Analysis of Medicinal Plant Records from the Historic Regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe, 1829–1895Julia Prakofjewa0Martin Anegg1Raivo Kalle2Andra Simanova3Baiba Prūse4Andrea Pieroni5Renata Sõukand6Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, Mestre, 30172 Venezia, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, Mestre, 30172 Venezia, ItalyUniversity of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II 9, 12042 Pollenzo, ItalyDepartment of Latvian and Baltic Studies, University of Latvia, Visvalža Str. 4a, LV-1050 Riga, LatviaDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, Mestre, 30172 Venezia, ItalyUniversity of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II 9, 12042 Pollenzo, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, Mestre, 30172 Venezia, ItalyWorks on historical ethnobotany can help shed light on past plant uses and humankind’s relationships with the environment. We analyzed medicinal plant uses from the historical regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe based on three studies published within the 19th century by medical doctors researching local ethnomedicine. The sources were manually searched, and information extracted and entered into a database. In total, there were 603 detailed reports of medicinal plant use, which refer to 219 taxa belonging to 69 families and one unidentified local taxon. Dominant families were Asteraceae (14%), Solanaceae (7%), Rosaceae (6%), and Apiaceae (5%). The majority of use reports were attributed to the treatment of four disease categories: digestive (24%), skin (22%), respiratory (11%), and general (11%). The small overlapping portion (14 taxa mentioned by all three authors and another 27 taxa named by two authors) contained a high proportion of taxa (46%) mentioned in Dioscorides, which were widespread during that period in scholarly practice. Despite the shared flora, geographical vicinity, and culturally similar backgrounds, the medicinal use of plants in historical Courland and Livonia showed high biocultural diversity and reliance on wild taxa. We encourage researchers to study and re-evaluate the historical ethnobotanical literature and provide some suggestions on how to do this effectively.https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/8/1065historical ethnobotanylocal ecological knowledgeold herbalsscholarly medicineLivoniaCourland |
| spellingShingle | Julia Prakofjewa Martin Anegg Raivo Kalle Andra Simanova Baiba Prūse Andrea Pieroni Renata Sõukand Diverse in Local, Overlapping in Official Medical Botany: Critical Analysis of Medicinal Plant Records from the Historic Regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe, 1829–1895 Plants historical ethnobotany local ecological knowledge old herbals scholarly medicine Livonia Courland |
| title | Diverse in Local, Overlapping in Official Medical Botany: Critical Analysis of Medicinal Plant Records from the Historic Regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe, 1829–1895 |
| title_full | Diverse in Local, Overlapping in Official Medical Botany: Critical Analysis of Medicinal Plant Records from the Historic Regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe, 1829–1895 |
| title_fullStr | Diverse in Local, Overlapping in Official Medical Botany: Critical Analysis of Medicinal Plant Records from the Historic Regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe, 1829–1895 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Diverse in Local, Overlapping in Official Medical Botany: Critical Analysis of Medicinal Plant Records from the Historic Regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe, 1829–1895 |
| title_short | Diverse in Local, Overlapping in Official Medical Botany: Critical Analysis of Medicinal Plant Records from the Historic Regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe, 1829–1895 |
| title_sort | diverse in local overlapping in official medical botany critical analysis of medicinal plant records from the historic regions of livonia and courland in northeast europe 1829 1895 |
| topic | historical ethnobotany local ecological knowledge old herbals scholarly medicine Livonia Courland |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/8/1065 |
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