Overview
- Compiles information from original fieldwork and ethnobotanical research on medicinal plants in Jamaica
- Moves beyond anecdotal ethnobotanical evidence by means of a quantitative approach and identifies medicinal plants by their scientific names based on the collection and curation of plant specimens prepared as vouchers for herbaria, where they remain accessible for future reference by other researchers who study plant diversity
- Combines expertise from the biological, anthropological, and biomedical sciences
- Showcases the importance of Jamaica’s biocultural heritage for local communities
- Limited use of scientific jargon so information is accessible to professionals and the general public alike
Part of the book series: Advances in Economic Botany (AEB)
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Table of contents (26 chapters)
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Front Matter
Keywords
About this book
For this book, we selected 25 popular medicinal plant species mentioned during fieldwork. Through individual interviews, we were able to rank plants according to their frequency of mention, and categorized the medicinal uses for each species as “major” (mentioned by more than 20% of people in a community) or “minor” (mentioned by more than 5%, but less than 20% of people). Botanical identification of plant specimens collected in the wild allowed for cross-linking of common and scientific plant names.
To supplement field research, we undertook a comprehensive search and review of the ethnobotanical and biomedical literature. Our book summarizes all this information in detail under specific sub-headings.
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Ina Vandebroek, PhD., is a biologist and ethnobotanist. She is the Mathew Calbraith Perry Associate Curator of Economic Botany and Caribbean Program Director at The New York Botanical Garden. Ina is the Principal Investigator of the research project “Comparative Exploration of Plants and Local Knowledge in Portland Parish, Jamaica”, funded by the National Geographic Society, Committee for Research and Exploration (grant #9339-13). She studied Biology at the University of Ghent in Belgium and holds a PhD. in Medical Sciences from the same university. After earning her doctorate, Ina specialized in ethnobotany, the science that investigates how people perceive, use, and manage their plant resources in traditional, culturally-appropriate ways. Through interviews with local community members and plant identification, Ina documents the traditional knowledge, beliefs, and practices of these communities, to help preserve their cultural heritage and contribute to plant conservation.She also trains medical students and healthcare providers in developing a more culturally appropriate and sensitive clinical practice.
David Picking, PhD., came to Jamaica as a Commonwealth Scholar in 2008 and went on to complete a doctorate in biochemistry at The University of the West Indies (UWI). David previously graduated from the School of Integrated Health, University of Westminster, London, as a medical herbalist and naturopath in 2007. David is currently a Research Fellow at the Natural Products Institute, UWI, where his research focuses on documenting traditional knowledge and the contemporary use of medicinal plants by Jamaicans. David has a particular interest in the integration of medicinal plants into the Jamaican healthcare system, and, as part of his PhD, screened a number of the most commonly used plants for their potential interaction with pharmaceutical drugs, a key aspect of medicinal plant safety. David was part of a team that successfully undertooka TRAMIL survey and completed Jamaica’s first contribution to the TRAMIL database and online plant pharmacopeia (www.tramil.net), adding to the body of knowledge from over 50 surveys completed across the Caribbean to date (the name TRAMIL is derived from “Traditional Medicines in the Islands”).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Popular Medicinal Plants in Portland and Kingston, Jamaica
Authors: Ina Vandebroek, David Picking
Series Title: Advances in Economic Botany
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48927-4
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-48926-7Published: 06 December 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-48929-8Published: 06 December 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-48927-4Published: 05 December 2020
Series ISSN: 0741-8280
Series E-ISSN: 2662-284X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 257
Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations, 27 illustrations in colour
Topics: Plant Sciences, Plant Ecology, Plant Anatomy/Development, Plant Pathology, Biotechnology, Plant Breeding/Biotechnology