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BOOK REVIEWS
aromatic spices, dyes, mordants, insecticides, medicines, and many others. Bark removal poses considerable risks to trees, and the second section provides a useful series of case studies on the impact of debarking. Through the use of bark thickness and matrix models, research in Zimbabwe, Cameroon, and South Africa underscore the long-term negative impacts of commercial harvest of wild populations, particularly where the largest individuals are targeted. Section three explores some of the larger-scale questions of bark harvest, including efforts to reintroduce locally threatened or extinct species, such as Warburgia salutaris (Bertol.) Chiov. in Zimbabwe. Steven Franzel and colleagues report from Cameroon that small-scale farmers are eager to plant Prunus africana (Hook. f.) Kalkman, a globally recognized treatment for benign prostatic hypertrophy, and surprisingly “are not discouraged by the long wait time” (p. 200) before the trees can be harvested. The fourth section contains a potpourri of bark use topics. Ethnobotanists will appreciate the chapter by Martin Luckert and colleagues on the household use and value of baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) in Zimbabwe. The iconic African tree provides an amazing array of services for local people. And although traditionally considered part of women’s domain, baobab bark craft production is of increasing interest to men as commercial opportunities expand. The commercial exploitation of non-timber forest products appears to improve the material wellbeing of forest dwellers without long-term negative impacts on the species in many parts of the less developed world (Stanley et al. 2013). The edited volume Bark suggests strongly, however, that debarking of African trees to meet the demands of regional and international markets has profound ecological and social consequences. Although based on studies from a short list of African countries, this volume should be read by anyone with an interest in ethnobotany and sustainable forest management. The reasonable price and the well-written introductory chapters should make this book appealing for course assignment. LITERATURE CITED Jarcho, S. 1993. Quinine's predecessor. Francesco Torti and the early history of cinchona. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Stanley, D., Voeks, R. and Short, L. 2012. Is nontimber forest product harvest sustainable in the less developed world? A systematic review of the
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recent economic and ecological literature. Ethnobiology and Conservation 1: 1-39. ROBERT VOEKS CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY FULLERTON, CA, USA
[email protected]
Medicinal Plants in Australia. Volume 4. An Antipodean Apothecary. Williams, C. J. 2012. Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd, PO Box 6125 Dural Delivery Centre NSW 2158, Australia; d i s t r ib u t e d i n t h e U n it e d S t a t e s b y International Specialized Book Services. AUD 89.95. ISBN 9781922013507. Before Cheryll Williams’s unique and tireless foray into the ethnopharmacology of Australia (which is comprised of a total of 4 hefty volumes), one would have had a difficult time finding similar narrative-style writing on the subject. Most previous books have been straightforward lists of monographs. We have Lassak and McCarthy’s (1983) wonderfully detailed, well-organized reference (Australian Medicinal Plants). Barr (1993) has a comprehensive inventory of plant profiles in the Northern Territory as well as the ethnobotanically rich and gorgeously photographed Traditional Bush Medicines: An Aboriginal Pharmacopoeia (Barr 1988). However, with her fourth installment in the series, Williams expertly fills in an accessibility gap that was missing from those otherwise excellent references. For that reason and others, this collection deserves more attention than it has gotten. It may not be the type of systematic treatment of a continent’s medicinal flora that economic botanists are used to, but in many ways it might be better. Williams describes herself as having “an extraordinary amount of faith in herbal medicine.” And, while she is definitely inspired by that faith, rest assured that she is ultimately guided by facts. As it is her goal to pursue the “validation of traditional remedies by modern science,” she is careful to craft her case with abundant citations—Lassak, Barr, and many others included. Her argument is not plodding and methodical; rather, it is vibrant and living. While the monographs have given us a foundation of primary information, Williams has synthesized and contextualized them for the reader. The result: a clear style with popular appeal that still stays rigorously true to the integrity of the subject matter. As such, while this is a truly fun read full of interesting and well-researched detail, it is also an important
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and integrative summation of ethnomedical scholarship in Australia. Many chapters read like the better articles from Scientific American—something many readers would be happy to curl up with. For instance, in Williams’s exceptional treatment of Solanaceae (“Kangaroo Apples and Blackberry Nightshades”) the expert juxtaposition of her craft is visibly apparent. Beautiful and relevant photographs abound next to voluminous tables of data and references, making for an overall bright and inviting text. Indeed, each chapter is akin to a stand-alone article with even smaller vignettes delineated within those articles. The reader is repeatedly invited to graze through a nearly bewildering amount of material. If there is any drawback to this impressive collection of information, it would be in the organization of all the interlocking pieces. As in volumes 1 through 3, this collection does occasionally feel a bit cobbled together. Williams’s overarching treatment of the material certainly would not be called systematic, and some may even find the transition from chapter to chapter a bit meandering. Perhaps some additional editorial guidance would have improved the cohesiveness of the volume. For example, chapters run from broad concepts (40 pages on “Validating bush medicines,” 50 pages on “New roles for old remedies”) to exceedingly specific (30 pages on “Pituri: A mysterious narcotic,” 20 pages on “Steroids from yams”). However, once inside the individual chapters, Williams connects the dots elegantly and convincingly. Taken as a whole, Medicinal Plants in Australia is a lovely work full of thoroughly researched detail. While the subject matter is certainly specific to Australia, this collection would be pleasurable and informative for anyone curious about the history of the use of plants by humans and the science that underpins those uses. The collection stands as an expert narrative course in the economic botany and ethnopharmacology of Australia – past, present, and future. That being said, Williams notes that there was at least one publisher that told her the material she has investigated in these four volumes was “not scientific enough.” If she set out to prove them wrong, she has succeeded. LITERATURE CITED Barr, A. 1988. Traditional bush medicines: An aboriginal pharmacopoeia : aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory of Australia. Richmond, Victoria, Australia: Greenhouse Publications.
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Barr, A. 1993. Traditional aboriginal medicines in the Northern Territory of Australia. Darwin: Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory of Australia. Lassak, E. V. and McCarthy, T. 1983. Australian medicinal plants. North Ryde: Methuen Australia. JOHN DE LA PARRA NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY BOSTON BOSTON, MA, USA
[email protected]
Uses of Plants by the Hidatsas of the Northern Plains. Wilson, Gilbert Livingston. 2014. Edited and annotated by Michael Scullin. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NB 68588-0630; www.nebraskapress.unl.edu. xxxx + 432 pp. (hardcover). USD 65.00. ISBN 978-0-8032-4674-4. Wilson (1869-1930) studied Hidatsa agriculture for his doctoral dissertation (Wilson 1917), working primarily with three family members. Wilson published a number of other studies on the Hidatsa. It is a good thing that Wilson recorded these data because Ethnologue (Lewis et al. 2014) records only 25–50 current semifluent speakers of their original language. Although some of the plants covered here are discussed by Wilson (1917), Michael Scullin, who edited and annotated this volume, used the original notes made by Wilson to add details and depth to all entries. After Wilson’s notes lay virtually unknown for over 75 years, Scullin has given voice to the record of how Maxi'diwiac (Buffalo-bird woman) and several others in or near her family used their plant resources. This book begins with the usual Preface, Acknowledgments, Introduction and Editor’s Notes, and is followed by 17 chapters that are devoted to categories of use, i.e., those that are eaten, those that can be eaten, sweet plants, those good for chewing, that smell good, are medicinal, provide fiber, can be smoked, are used for dyeing and coloring, etc. Finally, there are Conclusions, an Appendix, and a Bibliography. Within each category the number of topics vary. There are only two entries in those for chewing, both Pinus. Eleven cultivated plants are discussed. Among plants of ritual significance, all but two (Artemisia, Juniperus) are aromatic Asteraceae. The non-aromatic species were derived from traditions
