Volume 135, Issue 2, 17 May 2011, Pages 251–260
Change in medical plant use in Estonian ethnomedicine: A historical comparison between 1888 and 1994
Abstract
Aim of the study
The
aim of this paper is to compare the changes in the utilization of
species from various hemeroby categories (indicating the degree of
sensitivity of the plant to human impact) using historical data
concerning the years 1888–1994.
Materials and methods
The
authors digitised 8808 handwritten reports, reflecting local
ethnopharmacological knowledge from 8 selected collections from the
Estonian Folklore Archives of the Estonian Literary Museum. They were
semi-quantitatively analyzed according to the sensitivity to human
impact of 540 taxa that could possibly be related to the plant
vernacular names given in the reports.
Results
Although
in different periods of time the number of ethnopharmacologically used
plants has changed, the proportion of plants utilized from each group
has remained relatively same, consisting on average of: 23%
anthropophytes, 42% apophytes, 32% hemeradiaphores and 3% hemerophobes.
Comparison of the application of the most used plants revealed
considerable changes of plant utilization, in which the varied use of
the most popular anthropophytes increased and the applied scope of the
most popular hemeradiaphores and hemerophobes decreased almost by
twofold in one century. Case studies on seven taxa are presented, of
them, use of Allium sativum L., Aesculus hippocastanum L. and Mentha xpiperita L. increased, whereas the use of Hordeum L., Orchidaceae, Paris quadrifolia L. and Briza media L. decreased greatly.
Conclusions
This
research contributes to the better understanding of the cognitive and
human ecological concepts underlying the use of medicinal plants in
Estonia. Strong increase in the ethnomedical utilization of plants
depending on human influence, and a decrease in the use of taxa that do
not prefer human activities indicates that, despite some of the
population still have access to natural resources and diverse knowledge
of the medical use of plants, the majority relies on a very narrow
selection and a rather restricted herbal landscape.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Estonian ethnopharmacology;
- Diachronic analysis;
- Sensitivity to human impact;
- Historical sources;
- Herbal landscape
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
