History and Concepts

Abstract

John William Harshberger, an American, formally designated the term ``ethnobotany'' in 1895. In an article published in 1896 (entitled The purposes of ethnobotany), Harshberger considered that ethnobotany could help to elucidate the cultural position of the tribes that use plants for food, shelter, or clothing, and that such elucidation, in turn, could clarify the problem of distribution of plants. Harshberger posited that it would be possible to understand an entire culture from how it made use of plants, but this idea has been rejected by many researchers, since the relationship with nature is only one component of a complex cultural system. Today we understand that the use and knowledge of plants as a part of complex social-ecological systems can help us understand how we relate to nature and how this relationship evolves in time and space.