EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The term “Ethnobotany” was coined by John W. Harshberger, a botany professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1895 to indicate plants used by primitive and aboriginal people: From “ethno”-study of people and “botany” study of plants.

Detailed explanation-2: -As a word, ethnobotany is just a century old: it was coined by the American taxonomic botanist John W. Harshberger in 1895.

Detailed explanation-3: -Ethnobotany in India started when the British botanists came to India and searched for plants to study and also noted the native uses of the plants. Roxburgh (1832) described the use, the vernacular names, and the botanical identification of plants.

Detailed explanation-4: -Schultes is considered by many the father of modern ethnobotany – the study of native people’s uses of locally available plants. He was known for his wide travels through the Amazon collecting plants and talking with local people.

Detailed explanation-5: -i) John Harshberger in 1895 coined the term ‘ethnobotany’. ii) Dr. S. K. Jain is known as the ‘father of Indian ethnobotany’.