Amazonian Ethnobotanical Dictionary

Front Cover
CRC Press, Apr 11, 1994 - Science - 224 pages
The Amazonian Ethnobotanical Dictionary presents an exciting new rainforest book, designed and conceived in the rainforest and dedicated to its preservation.The book contains concise accounts of the various uses to which prominent Amazonian plants are put by the local rainforest inhabitants. Although emphasis is placed on plant foods and forest medicines, there is also commentary on other relevant applications, including natural artifacts, house construction, natural pesticides, and ornamental and fodder plants. More than 1,000 species are covered and over 200 illustrated. An index to Spanish and English names leads to the scientific name, and the index to plants provides its medicinal application. There are even suggestions on how to eat palm grubs and how to make an Amazonian salad dressing. All royalties from the book are donated to the Amazonian Center for Environmental Education and Research (ACEER) in order to continue its preservation of one of the world's most diverse forests.
 

Contents

Introduction
1
Index of Common Names
182
Medicinal Index
199
Major References
213
Copyright

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Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 215 - Maxwell, N. 1990. Witch Doctor's Apprentice, Hunting for Medicinal Plants in the Amazonian, 3rd Edition, Citadel Press, New York.
Page 215 - WB and Rizzini, CT, 1966. Useful Plants of Brazil, Holden-Day, Inc., San Francisco, Calif.

About the author (1994)

James Alan Duke was born in Eastlake, Alabama on April 4, 1929. He learned to play the bass fiddle in high school and began performing with Homer Briarhopper and His Dixie Dudes. At the age of 16, Duke played on a record that the band cut in Nashville. He received bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in botany from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He did postdoctoral work as a professor at Washington University in St. Louis and curatorial work at the Missouri Botanical Gardens there. He worked for the Department of Agriculture eventually becoming the head of the Medicinal Plant Laboratory. He was a pioneer in ethnobotany and phytochemicals. He wrote numerous books including The Green Pharmacy: New Discoveries in Herbal Remedies for Common Diseases and Conditions from the World's Foremost Authority on Healing Herbs, Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, and The Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America written with Steven Foster. After retiring from the Agriculture Department, he occasionally conducted tours along the Amazon River and gave tours of his herb farm the Green Farmacy Garden. He died on December 10, 2017 at the age of 88.

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