1. LON-CAPA Logo
  2. Help
  3. Log In
 


Welcome to an overview of what Economic Botany has to offer.

It will be a distance learning course this spring 2000, so below are highlights of what I plan

to be doing in the TopClass format

 

LECTURE 6 HIGHLIGHTS, BIOLOGY 03074, ECONOMIC BOTANY: SPICES, HERBS, AND ORNAMENTALS

Text: 2nd ed.: Ch. 17, Ch. 21 (pp. 354-358); 1st ed.: Ch. 17, Ch. 21 (pp. 323-324)

possible website: http://ihs2.unn.ac.uk:8080/figit.htm

(FIG: Folk Illness Glossary, an anthropological look at herbal and traditional medicine)

 

Herbs and spices have been enjoyed throughout history as flavor agents, as preservatives, and as medicinal agents. Herbs are considered to be products of herbaceous nonwoody plants. In constrast, spices are aromatic fruits, flowers, bark, or other plant parts of trees or woody shrubs/vines of tropical origin.

Early phase: Spices were used to assist with such items as embalming of mummies. Egyptian demand for preservative spices lead to establishment of early trade routes. By Greek times, the spice trade was active with the Far East, with Arab merchant middlemen bringing materials in by caravan. Spices became of interest again during the Crusades, with Venice and Genoa (Italy) rising to prominence.

Age of Exploration: Fall of Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, so need of new Eastern routes. Portuguese around Africa: Vasco de Gama to India by 1497. Spanish court looking for an alternative route, and Christopher Columbus claimed that sailing westward would do it. His math was off, but Columbus ran into New World anyhow. Magellen circumnavigated the globe (1519-22) and established the true western route, to e.g, the Spice Islands (Moluccas) in the Malay Archipelago. For the most part though, Portuguese had control during this time over the spice trade to Europe through outposts in India, China, Japan, and the Spice Islands.

Piperaceae: the pepper family. Flowers in spikes, fruit a drupe; Piper, pepper, kava (Polynesian).

Black pepper (white pepper), P. nigrum, the dried fruit of this tropical vine, is the most widely used spice today. Black pepper was used by Greeks/Romans, and largest producers still India/Indonesia. Black pepper is created by picking the fruits green and letting them dry to get tastier in the sun.

Apicaceae (Umbelliferae): the carrot or parsley family: flowers in compound umbels, fruit a schizocarp, e.g., a caraway"seed."

Lamiaceae (Labiatae): the mint family: square stems, opposite or whorled leaves with numberous oil glands, eg., spearmint, oregano, basil.

Dill, Anethum graveolens (Apiaceae): has been used in Mediterranean region since the Greeks, with both the leaves and seeds used. Sweet basil, Ocimum basilicum (Lamiaceae): originally from Africa/Asia, basil is used for sauces (pesto) and meats, and for flavoring beverages (e.g., Chartreuse).

Interest in herbal medicine is seen today as"alternative therapies," but until 1940s, textbooks of pharmacognosy would comment on barks, leaves, resins, etc, and the use of infusions, teas, poultices, etc. to produce these remedies, e..g, dill to help overcome colic.

 

ORNAMENTAL PLANTS are those plants grown for aesthetic qualities such as color, texture, line, and form. Ornamentals are often divided into nursery plants, florist plants, and houseplants. Many ornamentals have massive crossing/hybridization in their background. Nursery plants are outdoor plants, e..g, trees or ground cover, e.g., pachysandra. Florist plants include showy cut flowers, e.g., roses. Houseplants are typically native to tropical areas as understory plants, and so are used to low light, e.g., philodendron.

   


|main page| |background| |03028: Physiology| |03048: Anatomy|

|03050: Invertebrate Zoology| |03051: Vertebrate Zoology| |03074: Economic Botany|

 


Please send comments and questions to: cronewil@hvcc.edu

 

HVCC home page

Copyright 1999 by Wilson Crone

External and unofficial links are not endorsed by Hudson Valley Community College

 

This page updated on October 4, 1999