Volume 148, Issue 2, 9 July 2013, Pages 386–394
Spiritual and Ceremonial Plants in North America: An Assessment of Moerman's Ethnobotanical Database Comparing Residual, Binomial, Bayesian and Imprecise Dirichlet Model (IDM) Analysis
Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
Ethnobotanical
research and the study of plants used for rituals, ceremonies and to
connect with the spirit world have led to the discovery of many novel
psychoactive compounds such as nicotine, caffeine, and cocaine. In North
America, spiritual and ceremonial uses of plants are well documented
and can be accessed online via the University of Michigan's Native
American Ethnobotany Database.
Aim of the study
The
objective of the study was to compare Residual, Bayesian, Binomial and
Imprecise Dirichlet Model (IDM) analyses of ritual, ceremonial and
spiritual plants in Moerman's ethnobotanical database and to identify
genera that may be good candidates for the discovery of novel
psychoactive compounds.
Materials and methods
The database was queried with the following format “Family Name AND Ceremonial OR
Spiritual" for 263 North American botanical families. Spiritual and
ceremonial flora consisted of 86 families with 517 species belonging to
292 genera. Spiritual taxa were then grouped further into ceremonial
medicines and items categories. Residual, Bayesian, Binomial and IDM
analysis were performed to identify over and under-utilized families.
Results
The
4 statistical approaches were in good agreement when identifying
under-utilized families but large families (>393 species) were
underemphasized by Binomial, Bayesian and IDM approaches for
over-utilization. Residual, Binomial, and IDM analysis identified
similar families as over-utilized in the medium (92–392 species) and
small (<92 species) classes. The families Apiaceae, Asteraceae,
Ericacea, Pinaceae and Salicaceae were identified as significantly
over-utilized as ceremonial medicines in medium and large sized
families. Analysis of genera within the Apiaceae and Asteraceae suggest
that the genus Ligusticum and Artemisia are good candidates for facilitating the discovery of novel psychoactive compounds.
Conclusions
The
4 statistical approaches were not consistent in the selection of
over-utilization of flora. Residual analysis revealed overall trends
that were supported by Binomial analysis when separated into small,
medium and large families. The Bayesian, Binomial and IDM approaches
identified different genera as potentially important. Species belonging
to the genus Artemisia and Ligusticum were most consistently identified and may be valuable in future studies of the ethnopharmacology.
Graphical abstarct
Keywords
- Ceremonial plants;
- Ritual plants;
- Bayesian analysis;
- Ethnobotanical databases;
- Artemisia;
- Ligusticum
- Correspondence
to: Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Okanagan
Campus, 3333 University Way, Rm FIP350, Kelowna, British Columbia,
Canada V1V 1V7. Tel.:
+1 250 807 9566.
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
