Ethnobotany of Mexico reviews the history, current state of knowledge, and different research approaches and techniques of studies on interactions between humans and plants in an important area of agriculture and ongoing plant domestication: Mesoamerica.
Leading scholars and key research groups in Mexico discuss essential topics as well as contributions from international research groups that have conducted studies on ethnobotany and domestication of plants in the region. Such a convocation will produce an interesting discussion about future investigation and conservation of regional human cultures, genetic resources, and cultural and ecological processes that are critical for global sustainability.
Part I: History of Ethnobotany in Mexico
Chapter 1. Origins and Development of Mexican Ethnobotany
Abigail Aguilar
Chapter 2. Ethnobotany in México: Historical Trends and Development of Scientific Approaches
Andrés Camou, Alejandro Casas, et al.
Part II: Cultural Approaches in Ethnobotanical Studies
Chapter 3. Cosmos, Corpus, and Praxis: An Integrated Approach of the Study of Plants, Ecosystems, and Societies
Víctor M. Toledo and Narciso Barrera
Chapter 4. Ethnobotany and Mexican Biocultural Patrimony
Eckart Boege
Part III: Ecological Ethnobotany
Chapter 5. Ethnobotanical and Ecological Studies of Plant Populations
Javier Caballero, Rafael Lira et al.
Capítulo 6. Ethnobotanical and Ecological studies of Communities and Ecosystems
Alejandro Casas, Rafael Lira, Ana Isabel Moreno et al.
Part IV: Evolutionary Ethnobotany
Chapter 7. Domestication as an Continuing Process: From Populations to Landcape
Alejandro Casas, Fabiola Parra, Adriana Otero, Xitlali Aguirre, et al.
Chapter 8. Domestication of Annual Plants
Robert Bye, Cristina Mapes, Heike Vibrans, Beatriz Rendón, Rafael Lira, Isabelle Blanckaert, et al.
Chapter 9. Domestication of Perennial Plants.
Alejandro Casas, Patricia Colunga, Daniel Zizumbo, Fabiola Parra, Xitlali Aguirre
Part V: Plant Resources for the Future
Chapter 10. Useful plants of Mexico
Javier Caballero, Laura Cortés, et al.
Chapter 11. Medicinal Plants
Tzasná Hernández and Abigail Aguilar
Chapter 12. Food Plants
Cristina Mapes, Javier Caballero, Alejandro Casas, José Blancas
Part VI: Ethnobotany and Genetic Resources in México
Chapter 13. Maize
Luis Eguiarte and Daniel Piñero
Chapter 14. Beans
Alfonso Delgado, Paul Gepts, Daniel Debouck, Daniel Zizumbo, Patrícia Colunga, and Jorge Acosta
Chapter 15. Squashes
Rafael Lira, Salvador Montes, Luis Eguiarte, Daniel Zizumbo, Patricia Colunga, and Mauricio Quesada
Chapter 16. Cotton
Ana Wegier and Daniel Piñero
"[...] To bring such a variety of material together is a credit to the editors [...]"
– Dr A.M. Mannion, BES Bulletin 48(1), April 2017