What is ethnobotany?

A botanist will specify the scientific name of a plant species using a dichotomous key, found in literature such as Flora of Alaska and Neighboring Territories: A Manual of the Vascular Plants by Eric Hultén, 1968. An ethnobotanist will describe “how people of a particular culture and region make use of indigenous (native) plants.” (U.S. Forest Service) Through the study of ethnobotany, we can link the plant growing here today with the historical record. Texts such as Tanaina Plantlore: An Ethnobotany of the Dena’ina Indians of Southcentral Alaska by Priscilla Russell Kari document the wild resources used by the Dena’ina, specifying the scientific names.

The Dena’ina

The Dena’ina (also called the Tanaina) are one of “eleven major Athabaskan Indian groups in Alaska.” Their diet was mostly wild animals and fish. Plants were a “small but significant part of the diet” and were eaten in times of emergency. The Dena’ina widely used plants for medicine.

Wood served an important material need, as fuel for heating and cooking. Spruce trees were used to build dwellings, as well as many small items including tool handles and fish traps, and were source of pitch for caulking canoes and baskets. Without a variety of plants, the Dena’ina would not have had essential items such as “buildings, boats, sleds, snowshoes, spears, bows and arrows, [and] cooking utensils,” as well as dyes, glue, chewing gum, lines, and waterproofing material. (Kari 1995)