medicinal plants
Devil’s Claw Harvesting Helps Ju/’hoansi Women
The Ju/’hoansi San had another good year harvesting, curing and selling devil’s claw tubers from the surrounding Kalahari Desert. About 800 residents of the Nyae Nyae Conservancy and their closely-related neighbors to the west, the !Kung of the N#a Jaqna Conservancy, harvested about 32 tons of the desert plant roots this year, earning them nearly […]
Skyrocketing Value of Devil’s Claw Tubers
A desert plant that grows in southern Africa with the intriguing popular name “devil’s claw” is being increasingly harvested by the Ju/’hoansi for sale on the international market. A news story in a Namibian newspaper last week provided an update on the increasing economic importance of the harvesting business. A report in this website in […]
Medicinal Plants of the Yanadi [journal article review]
Recent research on medicinal plant preparations and their uses by a Yanadi community in southeastern India provides insights into their traditions and the efforts to preserve them. Nataru Savithramma and four colleagues published an article a few months ago that describes the medicinal plants used by Yanadi healers in Chandragiri and Gopolapuram, villages in the […]
Batek Knowledge of Medicinal Plants [journal article review]
The Batek are highly dependent on the diverse life forms that surround them, especially the forest plants that they use for medicinal purposes, and as a result they have accumulated a vast knowledge of local natural resources.
How the Semai Repel Cockroaches [journal article review]
The Semai effectively utilize products from their nearby forests that give them health and economic benefits, and in the process they are able to preserve their traditional way of life. A journal article about a research project in Malaysia, published in 2012, analyzes an important aspect of their traditional relationships with the forests: the uses […]
Paliyan Medicinal Plants [journal article review]
Although medicine and peacefulness are quite separate issues for most of the world, in some small-scale societies, such as the Paliyan, traditional healers and botanical preparations still help maintain physical, cultural, and social health. A detailed article describing the healing plants used in some Paliyan villages of Tamil Nadu, in southern India, provides some interesting […]
Traditional Paliyan Herbal Preparations [journal article review]
News reports and reviews about some of the lesser known peaceful societies, such as the Paliyans, can be reassuring, even when they just discuss the enduring traditions of the people. Since news about some of the other peaceful societies is distressing at times, a positive journal article last year about the fact that the Paliyans […]
