Search

While interest in land use in the prehistoric periods in Italy has received attention, that cannot be said of the Post-Medieval period. The general view is that all activities and objects from the last 300–500 years or so are so indecipherable from their contemporary counterparts and that there is no need to study them. There is, in fact, very little Post-Medieval archaeological work done in the south of Italy, which is the focus of this paper. The landscape of southern Calabria has changed radically over the centuries. The distribution of dense macchia forests was diminished in the late 18th and 19th centuries for building railroads and ships, and more recently, arson has been used as social or political revenge. The removal of the macchia led to erosional landscapes and the loss of archaeological footprints. This paper explores agricultural practices and forest exploitation in the early 19th and 20th centuries by the citizens of Bova to better understand the social and economic dynamics that continue to influence the lives of people living in the community. It utilizes cadastral records, archival documents from the early 1800–1900s, and spatial analysis to better understand the potential economic and social dynamics in this community. Consideration is also given to how social status and power, represented by Church-owned vs. lay citizen-owned properties, was reflected in local land use. The overall paucity of archaeological materials from this period across the landscape supports and complicates the overall picture while also supporting an interpretation of a very local and insular community poorly integrated into the greater Italian economy of the day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's experiences as the editor-in-chief of the journal "Economic Botany" and provides brief information about the operational settings in the publication of this journal. During the last year's meetings of the Society for Economic Botany, the owner of this journal, held in Canterbury, Connecticut, the author was asked to head the journal's editorial board. He appraises the intellects of several of his colleagues, botanists and their contributions. During the conference, the journal's shape, size and scope were decided. Discussions were conducted to design the journal more analytic, more scientific and less descriptive. The author is planning to ask the Society's Council at the next annual meeting to mandate that all manuscripts must be submitted electronically and that manuscripts submitted in paper form will be automatically rejected. He guarantee that each submitted manuscripts will be react carefully. The author's future goal is to enhance the journal as a lively, compelling and quoted journal.

Copyright of Boletín de la Sociedad Argentina de Botánica is the property of Sociedad Argentina de Botanica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines the abundance and Aboriginal use of botanical non-timber forest products in the Gwich`in Settlement Area in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Informants indicated that wild berries are important to Gwich`in diets and an important factor in culture and traditional land use. People collected mostly cloudberries (Rubus chamaemorus), blueberries (Vaccinium uliginosum), and lingonberries (Vaccinium Vitis-idaea). The total quantities collected were estimated to be greater than other published accounts of berry gathering by northern Aboriginal peoples in North America. The total collected by the 450 households in the year 2000 was about 16,000 L. Inventories of wild berries on the landscape suggest that substantial quantities could be collected for commercial production, although the between-year supply can show considerable variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While interest in land use in the prehistoric periods in Italy has received attention, that cannot be said of the Post-Medieval period. The general view is that all activities and objects from the last 300–500 years or so are so indecipherable from their contemporary counterparts and that there is no need to study them. There is, in fact, very little Post-Medieval archaeological work done in the south of Italy, which is the focus of this paper. The landscape of southern Calabria has changed radically over the centuries. The distribution of dense macchia forests was diminished in the late 18th and 19th centuries for building railroads and ships, and more recently, arson has been used as social or political revenge. The removal of the macchia led to erosional landscapes and the loss of archaeological footprints. This paper explores agricultural practices and forest exploitation in the early 19th and 20th centuries by the citizens of Bova to better understand the social and economic dynamics that continue to influence the lives of people living in the community. It utilizes cadastral records, archival documents from the early 1800–1900s, and spatial analysis to better understand the potential economic and social dynamics in this community. Consideration is also given to how social status and power, represented by Church-owned vs. lay citizen-owned properties, was reflected in local land use. The overall paucity of archaeological materials from this period across the landscape supports and complicates the overall picture while also supporting an interpretation of a very local and insular community poorly integrated into the greater Italian economy of the day.

Copyright of Boletín de la Sociedad Argentina de Botánica is the property of Sociedad Argentina de Botanica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: An effective computer generation method is presented in this paper to more perfectly and rapidly generate the random distribution domains with large numbers of grains (pores). At first, the geometries of heterogeneous grains and the stationary random distribution model with large numbers of grains are defined. Second, the effective computer generation method, including compactness algorithm and selection algorithm, is described in detail. Then the effectiveness of the generation method and the comparison with the take-and-place method are given, and some examples with different geometries of grains in 2- and 3-dimension cases are illustrated. The computer generation method in this paper has been applied to the computation of effective heat transfer behavior for the composites of the random distribution with large numbers of grains, and some numerical results are demonstrated. The generation method in this paper is able to make the generated samples hold better stochastic property, and it is also suitable to generating samples subjected to non-uniform probability model. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The incorporation of small amounts of pyrethroid-based preservatives (Organic solvent-based permethrin (OSP), Water-based permethrin (WP) and deltamethrin) into particleboards made from latex timber clone rubberwood (RRIM 2002) (Hevea brasiliensis), empty fruit bunches (EFB) of oil pahn (Eleasis guineensis) and rubberwood + EFB (70:30 parts) blend through spraying during blending of furnish significantly increased the resistance of the boards to white rot (Pycnoporous sanguineus) and subterranean termite (Coptotermes curvignathus) attacks. This paper discusses the physical and mechanical properties of the pyrethroid-treated particleboards. These properties were compared with those of boric acid-treated and untreated particleboards. The preservative treatment did not significantly affect the internal bond (IB) and modulus of rupture (MOR) of rubberwood and rubberwood + EFB blend particleboards. However, the modulus of elasticity (MOE) of these boards increased when treated with either WP, or OSP. For the EFB boards, all pyrethroid compounds reduced the IB of the board whereas the MOR and MOE were either reduced or unaffected. However, the thickness swelling (TS) of rubberwood particleboard, improved when treated with all the pyrethroid-based preservatives, whilst the other two types of boards were less stable when treated with OSP or WP. Among the three types of particleboards, the mechanical properties of EFB particleboards were affected most by the pyrethroid treatments. The mechanical and physical properties of treated particleboards from rubberwood and admixture were comparable or better than those of the untreated particleboards. Boric acid treatment reduced the MOR of all particleboards but other properties were either improved or unaffected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding of the gathering of nontimber forest products (NTFPs) in woodlands has focused heavily on politics surrounding public lands and harvester communities. Yet forest gathering may be far more universal. This paper reports the results of a survey of residents in New England, querying whether people gather wild things and for what purposes. The results suggest that gathering in New England, and elsewhere in the developed world, is not restricted to a unique type of community or economy, but instead is a form of practice. Those analytical approaches to NTFPs that seek to produce ‘alternatives’ to the dominant economy may therefore ironically work to reinforce a capitalocentric view of daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a study that assessed influence of continuous application of a particular traditional tillage practice on weed species richness, diversity and composition and identifies weed species with positive benefits to the communities in semi-arid areas of Mpwapwa district, central Tanzania. In this area farmers apply three different traditional tillage practices which are no-till (NT), shallow tillage (ST) and Ridging System (RT). A total of 36 farm fields were surveyed in 2006/2007 cropping season where 63 weed species from 26 families were identified. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences between practices (p < 0.05), with NT practice having highest weed species richness and diversity. Among the five more prevalent weed species appearing, Bidens lineariloba was observed to exist in all the three practices. Community representatives during focus group discussions indicated 9 weed species out of 63 identified to have beneficial uses. These species are Cleome hirta, Amaranthus graecizans, Bidens lineoriloba, Bidens pilosa, Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Launaea cornuta, Heteropogon contortus, Tragus berteronianus and Trichodesma zeylanicum. Their main uses include leaf-vegetable, medicines, fodder and materials for thatching. From this study NT has highest weed species richness and diversity which therefore suggests that much more time is needed for weeding in this practice compared to other practice which was the farmers' concern. It was also noted that although weed species have negative effects in crop production and production costs, they still play a vital role in food security and for the health of different people in marginal areas as well as for the complete ecosystem including micro and macrofauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The indigenous people of Australia have a long and well-documented history of using native plants as an essential component of their customary economy. However few have engaged successfully in commerce based on native plant use. Recently there has been an increasing interest in exploring options for use of native plants for food, food additives, botanical medicines, and related purposes. In this paper, we determine the issues important to Aboriginal people in enterprise development utilizing plant products, and we define some of the factors affecting progress in realizing opportunities. The Aboriginal people with whom we have worked appear to prefer small-scale enterprises where they have community ownership of ideas and control of the rate and direction of development. Government could play a larger and more active role through supporting additional research and marketing information, providing training, and better matching policy and legislation to support indigenous development and reduce dependence of welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economic Botany is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper reports a study of paddy vegetation in central Laos. Plants were inventoried and vegetation types classified. Relationships between vegetation and agricultural practices were identified. A total of 184 wild herbaceous species and 17 cultivated species were recorded in two villages. Of the wild species, 19 were used by local people, four were rare species, and three were major weeds. Paddy vegetation was arranged in order of water regime from shorter to longer hydroperiod by DCA. The factors contributing to high species diversity were: (1) the presence of species unique to different paddy types; (2) the presence of remnant species from original vegetation; and (3) the impact of agricultural practices. Thus, at this study site, multiple plant species coexisted in paddy fields under various agricultural practices, and some species were essential sources of food or were used in other ways to support the subsistence livelihoods of local residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study from Jumla District, Nepal, investigating local management systems and ecological sustainability of commercial collection of a medicinal plant, spikenard (Nardostachys grandiflora DC, Valerianaceae), growing in alpine meadows. Interviews were undertaken with local collectors, traders, and district forest office staff, and the dynamics of people–plant interactions are analyzed using the Oakerson model. In all, 110 sample plots 1m square were laid out in three areas with differing collection and grazing pressures for recording of floristic composition and abundance of spikenard root biomass. Comparisons show significantly more root biomass in uncollected than collected areas with local management and the interpretation of differences in abundance is discussed. The combination of qualitative and quantitative investigations can provide a framework for the study of people–plant interactions, and this study can serve as first step in a compilation of cases to create a more detailed picture of local management systems of Nepali nontimber forest products in general and commercially collected medicinal and aromatic plants in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain-boundary (GB) structure and properties are usually analyzed in terms of ground-state (minimum-energy) GB states. However, global equilibrium is rarely achieved in materials. In this paper, we investigate the nature of GB metastability and its impact on material properties. Higher-energy GB states can be the result of nonequilibrium processes or simply thermal excitations. While the existence of limited GB metastability is widely known for a few simple GBs, we demonstrate that the multiplicity of metastable GB states is, in general, very large. This conclusion is based upon extensive atomistic bicrystal simulations for both symmetric tilt GBs and twist GBs in three very different materials. The energies of these GB states are densely distributed so that the dependence of the GB energy on misorientation is better described as an energy band rather than as a single curve as in the traditional picture. Based upon the distribution of metastable GB states, we introduce a GB statistical-mechanics picture and apply it to predict finite-temperature equilibrium and nonequilibrium properties. When GB multiplicity exists, GB structures can be thought of as domains of different GB states separated by various classes of line defects. The existence of a large set of metastable GB states, very close in energy, suggests an analogy between the behaviors of GBs and glasses and implies the potential for GB engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the objective was to survey therapeutic plants used by the inhabitants in a coastal region located along Rio de la Plata and between the riverside resort of Bagliardi and La Balandra. Thirty six species used in folk medicine were recorded among them ten are also used as condiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the conference organized by the Department of Botany of Makerere University in Uganda and the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation (NORAD). The conference is titled "Plant Sciences in Development," and was held on February 21-25, 2005 at Makerere University. Topics discussed were matters related to plant resource surveys, utilization including trade, gender issues in plant resource management, geographical distribution, rarity and level of threat and abundance. The presentations centered on plant dynamics, biotechnology, plant taxonomy, economic botany and sustainable livelihoods.

The study has been conducted with 358 original contributions published in the journal Economic Botany during 1994-2003. Contributions by single author and small teams comprising two or three authors account for about 80% of the papers. Among the citations, books accounted for 59%, and articles 41%. E citations started appearing from 1998 are still negligible in number. Charts, diagrams, photos and tables included in the articles total 396, 427, 859 and 925 respectively. The length of maximum number of articles (38%) ranges from six to 10 pages. Articles occupying 11 to 15 pages rank next accounting for 31%. The highest number of articles totaling 217 (60.61%) has emanated from academic institutions such as universities. The articles originate from 45 countries. The first four countries are responsible for 51.7%, the first ten countries for 67.8%, and the first 15 countries for 78.6% of the articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Part I of this series, models were developed and computer simulated to understand the variability in coefficients of determination (R²) between fineness and maturity, micronaire and fineness, and micronaire and maturity of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). All plots of the simulated fiber properties produced families of lines rather than a single line because biological or cross-sectional perimeter plays a significant role in interpretation of the relationships. To enhance the R² values, this paper revisits the Part I simulation database to obtain information about how to derive diagnostic relationships to fit to a simple linear model. These new expressions incorporate perimeter in the model in a way that families of lines give a single line plot. The diagnostic criteria for fitting data to a model are that plots of the data yield a single line with a high R² and with predictable slope and intercept values. A fit of the data provides a proof for the Lord equation for micronaire and for the definitions of fineness and maturity in equation form. It is of special significance that the definitions of fineness and maturity are independent of the experimental methods of measurement and independent of the Lord equation. The diagnostic models were tested on 305 cottons with experimental data produced by the Southern Regional Research Center (SRRC) upgraded Fineness and Maturity Tester (FMT). For all of the diagnostic relationships, plots of the FMT data produced a single line with a high R² and with slopes and intercepts that conform to simulation predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micronaire has been used as a substitute for assessing cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fineness and maturity when these measures are not available. Variability in R² between the paired fiber properties (micronaire and maturity, micronaire and fineness, and maturity and fineness) has been observed. There is a need to model the relationships between these variables to understand the changes in R². The objective of this study was to develop and compare models between micronaire, fineness, and maturity in terms of the cross-sectional dimensions of watt thickness and perimeter. The models were computer simulated over the full range of thickness and perimeter values, the simulated data plotted, and the relative sensitivity to changes in thickness and perimeter calculated. Families of lines were produced by plots of wall thickness at constant perimeter versus micronaire, fineness, and maturity, and by plots of micronaire versus fineness and maturity. The paper evaluates R² values that would be obtained if the various relationships were fitted using a simple linear model. Additionally, the micronaire model is significantly more sensitive to a change in wall thickness (in μm) compared with the same change in perimeter, especially at small thickness values where micronaire is almost independent of perimeter. As thickness increases, i.e., for high micronaire cottons, the sensitivity to perimeter becomes larger. These simulations show how wall thickness and perimeter together affect fineness, maturity and ultimately micronaire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous leafy vegetables can play an important part in alleviating hunger and malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, but they are often neglected in research. They are important sources of micronutrients including vitamins A and C, iron and other nutrients and are sometimes better nutritional sources than the modern vegetables. The leaves of cultivated plants, such as pumpkins, melons and cowpeas are used as a leafy vegetable, as well as leaves from wild and weedy species from farmers' fields and the veld. These wild and weedy species include amaranth species, Corchorus species and Cleome gynandra amongst others, and all have the potential to be cultivated. The harvested leafy vegetables are perishable, but can be processed and preserved by partial cooking, blanching or drying. This paper provides ecogeographical information and some botanical descriptions; we discuss the importance of leafy vegetables in food security, the monetary value of some of these crops and report on some of the research carried out at ARC-Roodeplaat (Pretoria), South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: Plants are fundamental to solving many of humanity's most important challenges: food insecurity, water scarcity, energy, health, and climate change. With more than 20% of the world's plant species currently threatened with extinction, the loss of plant diversity will result in reduced options for human innovation, adaptation, and resilience. The world's botanic gardens already conserve and manage around a third of all known plant species in their living collections as well as seed banks as an insurance policy against extinction and as a resource to support scientific research. This work needs to be expanded rapidly if we are to avoid further plant species extinctions. Summary: Historically, botanic garden science has been dominated by the disciplines of economic botany and taxonomy. Today, with around 20% of plant species threatened with extinction, the author argues that unless botanic gardens shift their efforts toward the conservation, management and use of plants, the loss of plant diversity will stifle human innovation, adaptation, and resilience. The enormous body of taxonomic knowledge, skills, data, and collections built up over the past two centuries is fundamental to managing plant diversity. These resources need to be used to address challenges such as food insecurity, water scarcity, renewable energy, human health, biodiversity conservation, and climate change. At a time when botanic gardens are increasingly seen as visitor attractions, rather than scientific institutions, refocusing their efforts is in the best interests of botanic gardens as well as those of broader society. The author gives examples of how botanic gardens are already supplying crop wild relatives to plant breeders; using their living collections to assess resilience to climate change and vulnerability to pests and diseases; and conserving rare and threatened plant species for future use. However, in spite of these efforts, only a small fraction of the estimated 60,000 plant scientists and specialist horticulturists in the world's botanic gardens are engaged in scientific research that has demonstrable impact on how we conserve or manage plant diversity. The author argues that it is time for botanic gardens to develop a new contract with society—a contract that delivers outcomes for society that only botanic gardens, as custodians of the world's plant diversity, can deliver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper pursues the lead of Bart K. Holland in utilizing classic literature as a guide to the pharmacologic potentialities of natural products. Instead of focusing on European texts, how ever, American medicinal plants are examined through the work of the influential naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque (1783--1840). Rafinesque is discussed with special attention to his activities as a medical botanist. In particular, the plant species monographed in the main section of his Medical Flora of the United States (1828--1830) are studied for theirhistorical and current use as medicinal agents. The results are tabulated and presented in a bar graph. The study concludes that Rafinesque was a progressive therapist whose Medical Flora is a promising guide for phytopharmacuetical prospecting with North American plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hispano-Arabic culture in the Iberian Middle Ages is a major chapter in the history of the use and knowledge of plants. The Andalusi agronomists, botanists and physicians assimilated their heritage of Iberian, Hispano-Roman, and Hispano-Visigothic cultures with North-African and Eastern influences. They developed a profound knowledge of the plant world and managed a high diversity of species. A part of this ethnobotanical and agronomic heritage was transmitted not only to the local cultures and generations that followed, but also to peoples on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean by the Spanish colonists in the New World. This paper presents a study of the principal works of the so-called Andalusi Agronomic School (10th--15th centuries) and their agronomist authors: Arib ben Said, Ibn Wafid, Ibn Hayyay, Abu l-Jayr, Ibn Bassal, al-Tignari, Ibn al-Awwam and Ibn Luyun. We also raisequestions about Andalusi ethnobotany, the introduction of Oriental species in the Iberian Peninsula and the prospects for ethnobotanical research through the philological study of Hispano-Arabic writings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se presentan los resultados de una investigación etnobotánica que trata los tintes vegetales y fúngicos entre los indígenas wichí del Chaco Semiárido. Se realizaron trabajos de campo con informantes calificados y ocasionales de ambos sexos en localidades de las provincias argentinas de Salta y Formosa. Asimismo, se hizo una revisión minuciosa de la bibliografía vinculada con el tema. Se encontraron 24 especies de plantas y 2 de hongos que son usadas para colorear productos textiles realizados a partir de fibras de cháguar (Bromelia hieronymi y B. urbaniana). Se proporcionan informaciones y detalles sobre los nombres vernáculos de las especies, las partes usadas, los procedimientos de tinción y los colores logrados. El número total de plantas tintóreas encontrado es alto comparado con los que fueron citados para otras etnias chaquenses y se registraron especies que antes no fueron mencionadas como tintóreas entre los wichís.Dye plants and fungi among the Wichí people of the Gran Chaco. This paper presents the results of an ethnobotanical investigation into plant and fungal dyes used by the Wichí people of the Semiarid Chaco. Fieldwork was carried out with occasional and key informants, both men and women, in several locations of Salta and Formosa provinces in Argentina. Moreover, a detailed examination of the bibliography on the topic was conducted. Twenty-four plant species and two fungi that are used for coloring textile products made from cháguar fibers (Bromelia hieronymi and B. urbaniana) were found. Information and details on the vernacular names of the species, the parts that are used, the dying technique and the colors obtained are provided. The total number of dye plants found is high compared with the ones cited among other Chaco ethnic groups, and records were made of species that had not previously been mentioned among the Wichí people as being used for dyes.

The grounding of the MVRenain 2011 necessitated urgent entry of salvage vessels into New Zealand. Two, a cargo barge and tug, had been idle in Australia before mobilisation and had well-developed biofouling assemblages that included non-indigenous species new to New Zealand. Surveillance for the species was initiated in Tauranga harbour, Astrolabe Reef and Mōtītī Island, where the vessels had operated. Response personnel were trained to recognise and report the organisms and active surveys were implemented, including reinspection of the vessels after treatment of the biofouling, dive and shoreline searches, and trapping. Although none of the risk species was detected, the biosecurity risk from the vessels changed during the response, from initially acting as a vector for species new to New Zealand to later transporting non-indigenous species from coastal ports to the arena of operations. The study highlights a need for better integration of biosecurity risk management into forward planning for maritime incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intergranular failure in metallic materials represents a multiscale damage mechanism: some feature of the material microstructure triggers the separation of grain boundaries on the microscale, but the intergranular fractures develop into long cracks on the macroscale. This work develops a multiscale model of grain boundary damage for modeling intergranular delamination-a failure of one particular family of grain boundaries sharing a common normal direction. The key feature of the model is a physically-consistent and mesh independent, multiscale scheme that homogenizes damage at many grain boundaries on the microscale into a single damage parameter on the macroscale to characterize material failure across a plane. The specific application of the damage framework developed here considers delamination failure in modern Al-Li alloys. However, the framework may be readily applied to other metals or composites and to other non-delamination interface geometries-for example, multiple populations of material interfaces with different geometric characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain weight is an important crop yield component; however, its underlying regulatory mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, we identify a grain-weight quantitative trait locus (QTL) encoding a new-type GNAT-like protein that harbors intrinsic histone acetyltransferase activity (OsglHAT1). Our genetic and molecular evidences pinpointed the QTL-OsglHAT1's allelic variations to a 1.2-kb region upstream of the gene body, which is consistent with its function as a positive regulator of the traits. Elevated OsglHAT1 expression enhances grain weight and yield by enlarging spikelet hulls via increasing cell number and accelerating grain filling, and increases global acetylation levels of histone H4. OsglHAT1 localizes to the nucleus, where it likely functions through the regulation of transcription. Despite its positive agronomical effects on grain weight, yield, and plant biomass, the rare allele elevating OsglHAT1 expression has sofar escaped human selection. Our findings reveal the first example, to our knowledge, of a QTL for a yield component trait being due to a chromatin modifier that has the potential to improve crop high-yield breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines the history of the commerce in medicinal plants and plant-based remedies from the Spanish American territories in the eighteenth century. It maps the routes used to transport the plants from Spanish America to Europe and, along the arteries of European commerce, colonialism and proselytism, into societies across the Americas, Asia and Africa. Inquiring into the causes of the global ‘spread’ of American remedies, it argues that medicinal plants like ipecacuanha, guaiacum, sarsaparilla, jalap root and cinchona moved with relative ease into Parisian medicine chests, Moroccan court pharmacies and Manila dispensaries alike, because of their ‘exotic’ charisma, the force of centuries-old medical habits, and the increasingly measurable effectiveness of many of these plants by the late eighteenth century. Ultimately and primarily, however, it was because the disease environments of these widely separated places, their medical systems and materia medica had long become entangled by the eighteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]