Ethnobotany

Abstract

Ethnobotany is a life science which studies the interaction between human beings and flora in particular and broadly deals with the investigations, observations, and identifications of botanical diversity used for the prevention and treatment of human and livestock ailments. The current chapter reviews the history and development of ethnobotany and the involvement of this branch of science in the innovation and derivation of drug products which is originated from plants and claimed by the traditional healers and indigenous people used for the prevention and treatment of disease. This chapter also combines interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methods that can lead to further productive, comprehensive, and systemic guesstimates in the investigation of the relationship between the plants and humans. Regardless of its various bottlenecks, ethnobotany becomes an attractive and hopeful area of research. It also covers ethnobotanical knowledge and modern science, ethnobotany research and their applications, plant conservation and sustainable management practices, taxonomy, and economic botany. The chapter also deals with the ways in which different societies and cultures have come to perceive, know, use, classify, and symbolically represent plants and animals.