ethnobotany/ethnobotany.tex

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\title{On the Uses of Plants}
\author{Kenneth John Odle}

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\noindent{}In our increasingly complex and technology–based world, it is good to cultivate a garden. Good for the body, good for the soul, and good for the pocketbook. 

Gardens in the United States tend to be of two sorts: gardens for ornament and gardens for food. In either case, the process is much the same—the land is hacked and tilled until it is a powder, a selection of seeds and plants (which appear in large displays in nearly every store every spring) are planted, chemical fertilizers are applied heavily, and a variety of poisons are sprayed to kill insects and weeds, sometimes to the point of sterilizing the soil of any living thing, short of those things that were intended to grow there in the first place. In recent decades a new "organic" gardening movement has grown up which attempts to do away with the need for such chemicals It appears to have reached its zenith, as the shelves of your local hardware store have as many chemicals as ever, each promising to do what the others can't. Less than a century ago, such chemicals were unknown, yet most people today cannot imagine gardening without them. 

The dividing line between a purely decorative garden—one grown solely for the beauty of flowers—and a vegetable garden is a strong one, particularly in this country. While the organic gardening movement has meant that some people are now willing to plant a few marigolds in their garden, there is still a strong distinction between flower and vegetable gardens, as if they existed on either side of a great chasm. Likewise, when most people think of a vegetable garden, they think in terms of only a few plants, such as beans, lettuce, tomatoes and corn. Add to this list peppers, the various squashes, onions, carrots, peas, spinach, and the radishes which are always grown but never eaten, and it describes fairly accurately what most people grow. 

Yet there are many more plants that are not just edible but also delicious, and which are rarely if ever grown. Some have decorative leaves or blossoms, some have use as seasonings, some have medicinal uses, and many have beneficial effects on the garden, adding to a more balanced ecosystem which can minimize the damages caused by "pests" (which are only doing their jobs, after all). What of these plants? 

Scientists tell us that the world depends for a major portion of its food supply on only three different crops: rice, corn (maize in most of the English–speaking world) and wheat. It is not difficult to imagine what would happen if a disease were to wipe out one of these. In these days of hybrids, where square kilometers are covered with plants that are so genetically uniform that they are essentially the same plant, it is not difficult to imagine such a thing happening. It is becoming increasingly apparent that we must diversify and make use of as many different plants as possible. 

Indeed, fully 95\% of the world’s food needs are provided by only thirty species. Although this is a natural result of evolution (think of pandas surviving only on bamboo), a thinking species such as our own should find sustenance from as many species as follows, not just to preserve our own race, but for the betterment of all species, both human and plant. It is with this in mind that this guide has been written. 

What follows is a brief description of some plants that can be eaten as food. But that is the pragmatic approach. Many of them also have other useful properties, and I have attempted to point these out as well. I have included some of the folklore surrounding them, for plants have stories to tell, as much about us as about themselves. We need only listen. 

I have seen plans for ‘healing’ gardens in books and magazines. I am disinclined to think of any plant or garden as serving a single purpose, and urge you to grow one or two plants each year you never have before, and to consider all their charms and attractions, in addition to their strictly practical uses. In this light, every garden is a healing garden, every plant medicinal. 

\initial{A}

\genus{Abutilon}
\family{Malvaceae}{Attractive tender shrubs grown for their beautiful flowers and handsome foliage. Good in the greenhouse or outdoors in California and the South. Best in loose, well-drained soil. Treat like geraniums or fuchsias, as they make good pot plants.}

\species{Hybridum}``\common{flowering maple}''. Nodding, bell-shaped 2-3'' flowers in pastel shades of orange, red, white, and pink. Arching shrub to 10 feet, with broad maple-like leaves. Main blooming period is in the spring, but some colors are almost everblooming. Makes a nice tub plant in the North, and can be pinched to keep compact. Easy to grow from seed; germinates in one or two weeks.

\species{vitifolium} Large blue and white mallow-like 2-3\nicefrac{1}{2} inch flowers. Half-hardy shrub or small tree to 1\nicefrac{1}{2} to 3 feet in cultivation; to 25 feet in the wild. Lobed 6'' leaves. Native to coastal Chile. Said to be hardy to zone 7. Good in the cool greenhouse.

\genus{Acacia}
\family{Fabaceae}{Some 1,200 warm-region species of great ecological and evolutionary interest.\par{}Their earliest fossils are in North American, from where they expanded worldwide, with an Australian center of diversity.}

\species{Baileyana}``\common{cootamundra wattle}'', ``\common{golden mimosa}''. Spectacular masses of fragrant golden flowers in January and February, almost covering the tree. Feathery blue-grey bipinnate foliage on a small compact tree with arching growth, to 30 feet tall. One of the hardiest, and tolerates most any soil and full sun to part shade. Native to only a few stands in New South Wales, and would be endangered if not in cultivation.

\species{complanata}``\common{silver wattle}''. Profuse bloomer forming a mass of bright yellow fragrant flowers in late winter. Elegant silvery green feathery foliage. Fast growing adaptable tree to 50-100 feet. SE Australia. One of the hardiest, standing considerable snow and low temperatures. Grown for perfumery, fuelwood, tannin, gum production, and florist material.

\genus{Amsonia}
\family{Apocynaceae}{Hardy perennials valued in the border or among shrubbery for their blue star-like flowers.}
\species{hubrichtii}Starry blue flowers in clusters on a hardy perennial to 3-5 feet, with narrow needle-like leaves that turn bright yellow-orange in fall. Ozarks. Zone 5.

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