Welcome to my introductory ethnobotany resource page. This is a teaching tool for my Introduction to Ethnoecology course — a second year course in Indigenous Studies at Simon Fraser University (INDG-232). Let me quickly acknowledge that much of the information here comes from years (millennia) of tried and tested knowledge of living and being on the land by Indigenous peoples. Settler use and co-opting of that knowledge is ongoing and I urge visitors to consider and own the many ways in which ethnobotany is a colonial project. Challenging that project takes work that goes beyond the realm of botany and science. 

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Ethnobotanical knowledge shared with me (and countless other researchers) is to be respected. This information is used with permission from friends and colleagues as well as a few very important sources. One of these important resources includes the decades of passionate work that my mentor and colleague, Dr. Nancy Turner, has put into the troves of literature I use on a daily basis. Please find out more about her work here. Also— if you live on the Coast and do not have a copy of Pojar and Mackinnon's Coastal Plants then you're not living right! If you're in the Interior you'll want Parish and Friends. 

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Ethno (people) botany (plants) is a field of botany that explores the knowledge and relations people have with plant life around the world which includes uses, life histories, functions, and how that knowledge fits into worldviews and governance structures, and informs land-use practices. The so-called Pacific Northwest has so many varied bioregions and a long history of Indigenous knowledge and land-use tied to the plants that dwell here that it cannot be captured in single book, site, or by a single person. 

 

Plants are organized by Family and names are recorded in Latin. There are so many common names for plants that it's hard to effectively share our knowledge without some kind of universal nomenclature (aka. fancy name system). What I call bearberry, you call redberry, and Mary calls kinnikinnick but we can all agree it's Arctostaphylus uva-ursi. So Latin is a worldwide naming system that facilitates the organization of plants and helps us communicate across space and cultures. For decades, this system has been criticized for its colonial roots and and classist use. Ethnobotanists (settler and Indigenous alike) should always learn the names of plants given by the people that live where they are working. It's been said that it is the only way to truly know a plant relation. At the same time, I use the Latin system because it allows me to communicate across linguistic barriers and has important life-history information imbedded within the taxonomy. 

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Here's what I mean: plants are organized into Family > Genus > Species. The species concept is complex but lets just say that anything that looks the same, acts the same, and can reproduce together, are the same species. Back in the day (like thousands/millions of years ago) when a bunch of species used to be the same plant, they were in genus mode. Over time, 1 plant became 5, they broke off and started their own thing — but they're all still related and are now the same genus. Salmonberry and blackberry are from the same ancestor, so they're both Rubus plants. Eventually they speciated (became different species) and salmonberry became Rubus spectabilis (spectabilis is the species name) while blackberry became Rubus ursinus. The family follows the same idea but it's an older and more expansive category. I organize plant photos by family so you can get know to family traits. A family trait would be like you, your brother and your cousin that all have red hair. Or, salmonberry, blackberry and raspberry are all edible. You can learn family traits (like edibility, toxicity), so that where ever you are in the world, you'll have a rudimentary understanding of the local plant life.

 

Time to botanize!