How practice in plant collection influences interactions with illustrations and written texts on local plants? A case study from Daghestan, North Caucasus.

BACKGROUND: It is only recently that written sources of local knowledge on plants are not being ignored by scholars as not belonging to "traditional" knowledge. Ethnobotanical texts, however, if they at all focus on knowledge from written sources, hardly ever pay any attention to the actual processes of interaction with written texts and illustrations. During our research, we examined people's interactions with texts, illustrations, and herbarium specimens of plants they collect or are familiar with. We focused on a small community of Shiri people in the mountainous village and in the lowland settlements in the Republic of Daghestan, Russia. In the paper, we address the following questions: how do Shiri people interact with illustrations, written text, and herbaria specimens? How is this interaction influenced by the practice of plant collection? What are the methodological implications of the ways people interact with illustrations, texts, and herbaria specimens? METHODS: Our research was based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork: co-designing of a booklet showing edible plants people collect in Shiri, semi-structured interviews, and video-recordings, and observing interactions between people and text/illustrations/voucher specimens. RESULTS: We identified three kinds of interactions between individuals and text/illustrations: "text-wayfaring"-predominantly a bodily interaction between an individual and illustrations and text; "fact/spelling checking"-predominantly discursive and information focused; "between wayfaring and fact-checking"-the mix of the two. Using the idea of textual poaching, as well as the knowledge-making approach, we show that the mode of interaction with text/illustrations influences what is acquired, and how. This process influences readers' LEK. The mere presence of an information in the text available to people does not imply that they will acquire it, make use of it, and change their LEK. Photographs and pressed specimens of locally known plants are often not (or only partly) recognized by the interlocutors. Video-recording is essential for analyzing the above mentioned interactions. CONCLUSIONS: In ethnobotanical research, it is important to pay more attention to people's interaction with their sources of knowledge, including text and illustrations. The discursive part of LEK is more easily influenced by written sources. The practice of plant collection is not as easily influenced. Ethnobotanists function in a particular context and are embedded in discourses oriented towards conservation of bio-cultural diversity that value heritage as such, so it is important to be aware of one's positionality. A methodology that relies on showing pressed specimens or photographs to interlocutors may be a very misleading way of collecting ethnobotanical data.

[Herbal textual research on Chinese medicine "Huangjing" (Polygonati Rhizoma)and some enlightenments].

To clarify the change and development of the original plants， medicinal organs， traditional functions， resource distribution of "Huangjing"(Polygonati Rhizome)， a traditional Chinese medicine， we investigated Polygonatum species on the ancient Chinese herbal texts. The name of "Nüwei" was first carried out in the book of Sheng Nong's Herbal Classic. Its effects included two aspects： one was similar to "Weirui"(Polygonati Odorati Rhizome， "Yuzhu")， that was tonifying， nourishing one's vitality， removing wind and dampness， settling five organs， making body lightness， keeping longevity and not being hungry; the second was alike to "Huangjing" recorded in the book of Ming Yi Bie Lu(Appendant Records of Famous Physicians). Specifically， "Weirui" possesses the therapeutic effect of "Nüwei"， while "Huangjing" possesses the tonic effect of " Nüwei". Thereafter， the following ancient Chinese herbal texts kept those two names and function records. Accordingly， we hold the point of view that "Huangjing" was first carried out in the book of Sheng Nong's Herbal Classic in the synonym of "Nüwei". "Yuzhu" included the "Huangjing" in ancient herbal text before Qing Dynasty， that was further confirmed by the research on change and development of the original plants. The identification between "Yuzhu" and "Huangjing" was based on the shape of rhizome and size before early Tang Dynasty. The shape was a key character and used up to now， but size was not reasonable. The opposite phyllotaxy was an important character of authentic "Huangjing" from Tang to Qing Dynasty. The seedling of Polygonatum sibiricum and P. kingianum， the adult plant of P. cyrtonema with alternate leaves were misused as "Yuzhu"("Nüwei" and "Weirui") at that time. Therefore， both "Yuzhu" and "Huangjing" should be used as key words during the search of ancient prescriptions and development of new drugs and health foods. The leaves， flowers， fruits and seedlings could be used as food or medicine other than the rhizomes in ancient China， but they haven't been developed in modern times. The culture of "Huangjing" had a long history starting with Tang Dynasty， which was recorded in Tang poetry. Then in Ming Dynasty， the culture method was described in Compendium of Materia Medica， that was cutting the rhizomes into 2 feet， planting sparsely(they would be grown densely in the next year)， or sowing the seeds. The harvesting and processing were first recorded in Ming Yi Bie Lu： "harvest the roots in February， dry in the shade". Then the processing method was changed to "steaming and drying in the sun， repeatedly for nine times" in Shi Liao Ben Cao(Dietetic Materia Medica) and "harvesting in August as well" in Ben Cao Tu Jing(Commentaries on the Illustrations). No breakthrough has been taken in the breeding of cultivars and key cultivation technologies yet. As to the geo-authentic habitats， Mount Songshan and Maoshan were firstly recorded as the best producing areas of "Huangjing" in Ben Cao Tu Jing. But Maoshan， Jiangsu province and Mount Songshan， Henan province， are not main producing areas in modern China. Consequently， the plantation plan of Polygonati Rhizome needs further study.

[Herbal textual research on origins of Chonglou].

Based on the field investigation, this paper researched the germplasms and geoherbs habitat of Chonglou in ancient herbal books systematically. The results showed that, Chonglou in ancient herbal books sometimes referred to certain specific germplasm, while sometimes it referred to many species derived from genus Paris except Sect. Paris. The medicinal material Chonglou in Chinese Materia Medica Bencaotujing and Bencaomengquan was verified as P. polyphylla var. chinensis, which could be P. polyphylla in Xinxiubencao, and it should include P. polyphylla or P. polyphylla var. stenophylla in Bencaogangmu. However, it proved to be a variety of species from Paris that can used as Chonglou in Diannanbencao and Zhiwumingshitukao. Moreover, the origins of Chonglou were correspondingly more diverse, with its producing areas changed from North to South. Therefore, with the resources increasing endangered, the botanical origin of Chonglou should be further studied.

Adam Huber of Riesenpach (1545-1613) and his Translation of the Book on Regimen within the Context of the Prague Medical Milieu.

This paper outlines the life, work, and views of Adam Huber of Riesenpach (1545-1613). Huber was one of the personal physicians to Rudolf ii in Prague, a pharmacist, translator, pedagogue, progressive academic and chancellor at Prague University, aiming to re-establish its medical faculty. Here, I will first appraise Huber as a distinguished translator of medical books published by the prominent Prague printer Daniel Adam of Veleslavin (1546-1599) and as a scholar who helped establish Czech medical terminology, most notably through his new translation of the great Herbal of Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1501-1577), which he reworked and expanded. In the second part, the article focuses on a popular book on regimen, the De conservanda valetudine (1576) by the German humanist author and politician Heinrich Rantzau (1526-1598), translated into Czech by Huber in 1587. The text and its translation are analysed against the backdrop of the new, more specifically Paracelsian, approaches in medicine. The author's views are compared with Huber's own ideas expressed in his foreword and in several of his other texts. His distinctive emphases and views are analysed, particularly in relation to Paracelsian medicine, Renaissance (and notably Piconian) concepts of man, and astrology.

[Pierre Pomet (1658-1699) and his Histoire des drogues (History of drugs) (1694 & 1735)].

Pierre Pomet is a Parisian, but as all great botanists, he liked travelling and bringing back sample of drugs that he was ultimately showing during his course at the Jardin des Plantes (Royal Herbs garden in Paris). Member of druggists and groceries storekeepers' Community, he was not allowed to establish himself as an apothecary in Paris. It is as drug expert that he wrote and published in 1694 his "General History of Drugs, concerning herbs, animals and minerals, book enriched with more than 400 copper-plate engravings designed from nature : with explanations of their various names, their countries of origin, the way to differentiate them from falsified ones, and their properties, where one can see the errors coming from Ancients and modern writers ; the whole being very useful for the public". This book was translated into English in 1712 and German in 1717. It is part of the reference books of the 17th century for pharmacy. In his introduction, Pierre Pomet explains that his goal is to avoid for drugs errors and falsifications that very frequent at that time. The book is then dedicated not only to physicians, apothecaries or students, etc., but also to all that used drugs.

[Pierre Pomet's opinion on Lemery revealed by the project of a second edition of his General History of Drugs, in 1699 ].

General History of Drugs was first published in 1694 by Pierre Pomet, as a big in-folio volume, illustrated by more than 400 engraved figures. It was a very expensive book. In 1698-1699, just after the publication of the Universal Treaty on Simple Drugs by Lemery, Pomet prepared a new edition in-8°, less expensive. Unfortunately, it was not ready for publication when Pomet died in 1699. Only 208 pages were preprint, but together with manuscript mentions written on the exemplar gathered by BIU Santé, pôle Pharmacie, they were sufficient to prove that Pomet deeply felt that Lemery had committed plagiarism, copying even some errors he had included in his first edition.

Could EU herbal monographs contribute to Malta's treatment armamentarium?

Ten years have passed since Directive 2004/24/EC regulating herbal medicinal products across the EU were published. The directive created the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products within the European Medicines Agency whose remit includes the creation and publishing of official EU monographs on herbal medicinal products. These monographs include the official uses of the products and their evidence for efficacy and safety. To this effect, we are interested in analysing the potential impact herbal product EU monographs could have on the therapeutic treatment options available for prescribers in Malta. Therefore our aim was two-fold. First, to rationalise the spread of indications of the herbal substances listed in the community herbal monograph inventory and subsequently determine if these herbal substances could potentially contribute to the treatment options available in our local scenario (Malta). 128 EU monographs were analysed resulting in a total of 230 indications which subsequently codified into 42 unique ATC codes. The Malta Medicines List contains 1456 unique ATC codes. Comparative analysis of the Malta Medicines List revealed that the 21 therapeutic areas had 4 or less pharmaceutically used substances (5th level ATC codes) registered and therefore in our opinion are areas with limited therapeutic choice. The following 4 therapeutic areas, A05 bile and liver therapy, A13 tonics, A15 appetite stimulants and D03 preparations for treatment of wounds and ulcers, could potentially benefit from the registration of herbal medicinal products according to the EU herbal monographs. If such registration is effected the aforementioned areas would no longer be considered limited because more than 4 therapeutic choices would be available to prescribers. This study is the first study across the EU to analyse the potential impact of published EU herbal monographs on therapeutic coverage in an EU member state and confirms the notion that herbal products could potentially increase the treatment options available in areas where few medical products have been registered due to Malta's small market size.

[Achievement of Qimin Yaoshu in area of herbalogical textual research].

The achievement of Qimin Yaoshu in the area of herbalogical textual research was illustrated in this paper. Qimin Yaoshu quoted and keeped many contents from ancient agriculture books related in herbalogical literature. It also recorded the information of lots of tropical and subtropical plants. The author bringed forwarded many experiences indistinguishing plants and clarified some long last confused or wrong opinions. The studying philosophy and methods of the authors gave us much enlightenment in our herbalogical textual research. It should be taken into account when the herbalogical textual research was carried out.

[Herbalogical textual research of Wuyi].

Wuyi is one of the Chinese medicine recorded in Shennong's Herbal Classic and many other herbal books during the long history period. Up to now, Wuyi is still an important medicine used for insecticidal and removing food retention. Recent researches indicated that Wuyi also had the function of anti-malaria and treating herpetic simplex keratitis. Therefore, Wuyi had notable value on clinic and development of new medicine. The herbalogical textual research on Wuyi was conducted through investigation of the literature of materia medica during the long historical period from Han Dynasty. It was demonstrated by this work that the original plants of Wuyi include Ulmus macrocarpa Hance and Hemiptelea davidii (Hance) Planch, in which, U. macrocarpa was the quality specie. U. pumila was the false specie which cause confusing. The medicine Wuyi was the processed product made from the nutlet of the plants through fermentation with other additive agents.

Domenico Cirillo's collections. A recently rediscovered 18th-century Neapolitan herbarium.

The herbarium of the 19th-century Neapolitan botanists Vincenzo and Francesco Briganti was acquired by Orazio Comes in 1892 for the Royal Higher School of Agriculture in Naples. Based on a study of the handwriting on their labels, Comes concluded that some of the dried specimens were the sole remains of the herbarium of Domenico Cirillo, the distinguished 18th-century Neapolitan botanist, entomologist and physician. The current arrangement of the specimens not uniform and it is clear that they underwent extensive handling and rearrangement Some of the exsiccata are preserved in two packets, fixed on sheets bearing a printed label that reads "Herbarium D. Cyrilli". In an additional label Gaetano Nicodemi's handwriting and not Cirillo's as stated by Comes was identified. Other specimens, many of them mounted in a different manner from those in the first group, are arranged in another three packets. Certain characteristics of the herbarium may be explained by the vicissitudes of its history, including a hasty salvage operation. A study of the collection was conducted, including an analysis of the handwritten labels and notes, leading to conclusions that shed light on the significance of the Cirillo collection within the historical and scientific context of 18th-century Naples.

[Inheritance of academic idea and experience about using traditional Chinese medicine from JIN Shi-yuan].

Professor Jin Shi-yuan has been worked in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) over 70 years. He made prominent contributions in identification, processing, dispensing of TCM and reasonable use proprietary Chinese medicine. In over 70 years, he has mastered herbal medicine and traditional Chinese Medicine. It is also professor JIN's academic characteristic. Professor JIN's practical experiences were summarized according to the current situation about clinical medication, change of species of Juhong and Chenpi has been different from species of medical history. The quality is lower than before. Medicinal parts of Danggui, Gancao, Huangqin and Wuyao has been changed. So the actions of these herbal medicines have been changed also. Fresh herbal Qianchangpu has disappeared but it should be used clinically. Medical history, change of species, change of medicinal part, and change of preparing process in professor JIN's academic idea were be summarized periodically. The result is hoped to be referred by administration, manufacture, medical treatment of TCM.