Ethnopharmacological information from the botanical correspondence of Berthold Seemann (1825 - 1871)--a pilot study.
Abstract
Historical
research may be able to contribute to the exploration of traditional
knowledge about medicinal plants and promising attempts have been made
investigating Byzantine texts, Early Modern herbals, and writings of
Christian missionaries. In this pilot study it should be explored if
publications, travel reports, diaries or correspondence of the botanical
explorers of the 19th and early 20th centuries may serve a source of
ethnopharmacological information as well and may be able to guide modern
phytopharmacological research. Writings of Berthold Seemann
(1825-1871), a German
investigator exploring the botany of Middle America, the Fiji islands
and other regions, are investigated as a first example. It could be
shown that Seemann's heritage mainly kept at Kew Garden Archives, does
contain ethnopharmacological information which in part has already been
confirmed by recent study results indicating some reliability of his
observations. However, there are also reports about traditional
medicinal plants scarcely investigated so far, including Schultesia
stenophylla Mart. (syn. S. guainensis (Aubl.) Malme), Trixis inula
Crantz, Waltheria glomerata Presl., Gonophlebium attenuatum (Humb. &
Bonpl. Es Wil\d) C. Presl., or Pseudoelephantopus spicatus (Juss ex
Aubl.) C.F. Baker. It is suggested to further explore their potential as
medicinal plants. In general, as Seemann's example has shown,
publications and correspondence of botanical explorers of the past seem
to be a valuable and hitherto almost neglected source of information to
be considered in further historical and ethnopharmacological research.
