Samoan herbal medicine = o la'au ma vai fofo o Samoa / by Dr. W. Arthur Whistler

Abstract

The subject of this book, as the subtitle The Ethnobotany of Samoa indicates, is the traditional and current uses of plants in Samoa. The word ethnobotany is composed of two root words of Greek origin, ethnos, meaning a "race" or "people", and botanikos, referring of course to plants. Thus ethnobotany is the scientific study of how people in different cultures interact with and utilize the plants in their natural environment. The broader related field of ethnology is the anthropological study of socio-economic systems and cultural heritage, usually in technologically less-advanced cultures (i.e. cultures that rely extensively on their immediate environment to meet their needs). The culture heritage portion can include ethnobotany to some degree, since useful plants are a part of one's cultural heritage. The Ethnology of Tubuai, for example, includes several chapters dealing with the use of plants on that Polynesian island. Another related term, "material culture," involves the study of how material things, which are made of animals, plants and inanimate materials, are used in a culture and thus includes ethnobotany.