Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Abstract

Vulgar botany, a branch of ethnography of traditional sciences and technology, is a sub-division 01 ethnography. A combination of anthropology and botany, considered as enthnobotany or 'anthropology of botany" has been gaining importance in recent decades. This paper starts with theories of scholars and anthropologists, about the importance of this field in international level, and then focuses on the researches conducted in Iran in this area. In Iran studying plants from ethnographical approach, and of course from anthropological approach, is very new. On the other hand, this knowledge increasingly is being elapsed. The author, during his three to four decades of anthropological researches, interviews and memoirs in central province of Iran, has noticed the decline and elapse of such knowledge from the minds and conversations of people. which reveals the urgency of paying special attention to the field. This elapsing is seen in various grounds, from knowledge about plants, differentiating plants, and names of plants, to their uses and methods of their utilization. Moreover, in this paper the usefulness of collaboration among anthropologists, botanists, and linguists is discussed. After discussing some general points, the paper briefly explains ethno botany of wild plants of Kamareh.

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