Documenting Domestication.

New Genetic and Archaeological

Paradigms
Author(s): Charles R. Clement
Source: Economic Botany, 60(4):398-398. 2006.
Published By: The New York Botanical Garden
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1663/0013-0001(2006)60[398a:DDNGAA]2.0.CO;2
URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/
full/10.1663/0013-0001%282006%2960%5B398a%3ADDNGAA%5D2.0.CO
%3B2

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 Book Reviews
Book Review Editor, Daniel F. Austin
Eating and Healing. Traditional Food as
Medicine. Pieroni, Andrea and Lisa Leimar Price.
2006. Food Products Press, an imprint of The Ha-
worth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton,
NY 13904-1580. xviii + 406 pp. (paperback).
US$ 39.95. ISBN 978-1-56022-983-4.
Eating and Healing is aimed at exploring the idea
that food can heal. The underlying argument of the
volume is that, around the world, indigenous and
rural people do not separate food and medicine, but
rather consider them in a continuum. From the use in
Spain of herbal teas as digestive beverages, to the an-
tioxidant properties of Tibetan foods, we learn that
the continuum concept is not unique to a single cul-
ture, but a common way in which humans use the
natural environment. The various chapters of the vol-
ume describe a range of wild and semi-domesticated
foods that traditionally have been used both as food
and medicine. Although most chapters focus on the
use of wild and semi-domesticated plants, the con-
sumption of other foods (i.e., fish, mushrooms, sea-
weed) suggests that the overlapping nature of food
and medicine is not particular to the plant kingdom,
but a common way of conceptualizing.
The publication of this volume is timely. The book
appears at a moment in which the use of food as
medicine is gaining attention among the general pub-
lic in Western society. The volume, however, presents
a refreshing perspective of the link between food in-
take and health. While medical doctors recommend
the intake of dietary supplements and food scientists
work to develop new “miraculous” foods (such as the
golden rice) containing the nutrients lacking in many
diets, this book is a call to go back to the essentials,
to look at the local resources around us, and to con-
sider the cultural context interwoven with the con-
sumption of foods and medicines.
As a whole, however, the volume does not present
an overly optimistic and simplistic approach.
Throughout the book, different authors point at three
potential caveats of generalizing the ingestion of tra-
ditional foods as medicines. First, plants that are
highly nutritious also have the potential to be highly
toxic, so it is not possible to generalize their con-
sumption without further inspection. Second, the eat-
ing of traditional foods and medicines is culturally
prescribed and their intake disregarding the cultural
system associated to them can result in a loss of ef-
fectiveness. Last, promoting the consumption of wild
foods as medicines can increase the demand of those
Economic Botany, 60(4), 2006, pp. 389–399.
© 2006, by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.
foods with potential pernicious effects on their sus-
tainable use because of overextraction.
By addressing the interface between food, medi-
cine, and culture, Eating and Healing fills an impor-
tant gap in ethnobiological research. The volume,
however, would have benefited from including more
quantitative contributions testing the various hy-
potheses presented. For example, quantitative data
should allow researchers to test whether, in fact,
people maintaining traditional diets enjoy better
health. Future studies on the topic would benefit from
using quantitative methods to test the relations be-
tween food and medicine.
Victoria Reyes-García
Institut de Ciencia i Tecnologia Ambiental
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
Victoria.Reyes@uab.es
Genetic and Production Innovations in Field Crop
Technology. New Developments in Theory and
Practice. Kang, Manjit S., ed. 2005. Food Prod-
ucts Press, The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice
Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580. xx + 384
pp. (paperback). US$ 49.95. ISBN 978-1-56022-
123-4.
As the world’s population continues to increase,
the need to enhance food production is pertinent.
This improvement in food production will require in-
tegrative approaches to ameliorating difficulties with
crop production and increasing crop yields. This
book is a special issue of the Journal of Crop Im-
provement. The collection of articles is based on the
premise that a systems approach, including breeders,
geneticists, biochemists, physiologists, pathologists,
and statisticians among others, will be needed to ef-
fectively address improving food production.
The first three articles of the book focus on the
issue of enhanced food production and crop improve-
ment at a global scale. The first article by L. T. Evans
entitled “Is Crop Improvement Still Needed?” sets
the stage for articles to follow by addressing the need
for continuing to improve crop production output and
crop nutritional quality largely due to the enduring
lack of food in less developed countries. Notably, the
largest increases in the population are likely to occur
in these countries that are most affected by food inse-
curities. Thus, ongoing improvements in crop pro-
390 ECONOMIC BOTANY
duction and increased nutritional quality are vitally
imperative globally. The realization of enhanced food
production will be a difficult task as the amount of
land suitable for crop cultivation is already limited,
particularly in many less developed countries where
the largest increases in crop production will be
needed. Thus a multidisciplinary effort will be re-
quired to simultaneously improve crop production
and limit crop losses.
Later chapters address specific strategies to im-
prove crop production, including specific details of
field experimentation, the use of physiological deter-
minants for improving field management practices,
the efficacy of utilizing genetic diversity for intro-
gression of exotic yield alleles into crop species for
trait improvement, the identification of trait-
improvement QTLs (quantitative trait loci), and the
impact of genotype-by-environment interactions on
crop productivity. Crops discussed in detail include
maize, soybean, wheat, and cassava. Much of the
successes that have been seen in improving yield and
nutritional value of these crops have arisen through
productive collaborations between breeders and re-
searchers. Such interdisciplinary approaches are also
likely to be crucial for future improvements in crop
production. Purely commercial crops such as rubber
(Hevea brasiliensis) are also discussed.
Summarily, this well-referenced collection pro-
vides detailed information from a number of existent
examples addressing crop yield in a diversity of spe-
cific crops. This text is likely to serve as a good re-
source for those actively involved in these areas of
research or for advanced students in plant breeding.
Beronda L. Montgomery
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
montg133@msu.edu
Ethnobotanical Wisdom of Khasis (Hynniew
Treps) of Meghalaya. Ahmed, Ayesha Ashraf and
S. K. Borthakur. 2005. Bishan Singh Mahendra
Pal Singh, 23-A, New Connaught Place,
Dehradun, 248 001, India. Rs. 1250.00. i + 307
pp. (hardcover). ISBN 81-211-0434-3.
There is now a strong focus on herbal medical
products, with the market expanding at 20–30% per
annum. Past experience shows that the leads from
ethnobotanical studies play a pivotal role in the de-
velopment of new and better drugs and other prod-
ucts. This is a timely publication because this phyto-
geographical region is one of India’s richest in plant
diversity and tribal communities.
The first pages contain 81 coloured photographs,
including forests, tribes, and plants. The book is di-
vided into 6 chapters.
The Introduction describes the history of ethno-
[VOL. 60
botany and its relevance in obtaining leads from folk
uses. These clues have resulted in newer resources to
fight diseases and use in other aspects of health care.
Ethnobotany has vast potential to provide new drug
and food sources for humans.
The Hynniew Treps of Meghalaya–The people and
their land portrays the Khasi tribes. Khasis are di-
vided in 5 main subtribes, i.e., The Khynriam, The
Pnars, The Wars, The Whois, and The Lymgnams.
Recently the Amwis has been added from the south-
ern Khasi hills. The text discusses the early history,
appearance, personal adornment and dress, language
and script, religion, festivals and games, dwellings,
foods, and drinks. Economy, agriculture and the agri-
cultural implements, concepts of disease, diagnosis
and remedies, the land, climate, vegetation and the
forest types are also covered.
Chapter three provides a review of literature,
methods of study, procuring information from the
tribes and the documentation of recorded data. Eth-
nobotanical panorama of the Hynniew Treps com-
prises the major part of the book, documenting the
ethnobotanical panorama. This enumerates the vari-
ous utilitarian aspects such as edible plants, fruits,
edible mushrooms, and ethnomedicobotany. It deals
with 577 species, 375 genera, and 146 families.
General principals of Khasi plant nomenclature is
next. The Khasi’s unique system of classifying plant
species has been widely discussed. The Epilogue nar-
rates the statistical analysis of the various facets of
Khasi ethnobotany. This is followed by the refer-
ences, and indices to local and English names.
The authors have nicely elaborated the diverse top-
ics pertaining to Khasi ethnobotany. This will cer-
tainly serve as a model for students, researchers, pol-
icy makers, and managers engaged in pharmaceutical
and research sectors. The cost is a bit high for the
personal collection, but the book will be a positive
asset for the libraries of educational and scientific or-
ganizations.
Anil Kumar Goel
Botanic Garden
National Botanical Research Institute
Lucknow—226 001
anilkumar_goel@rediffmail.com
Landscapes of Fraud. Mission Tumacacori, the
Baca Float, and the Betrayal of the O’odham.
Sheridan, Thomas E. 2006. The University of Ari-
zona Press, 355 S. Euclid Ste. 103, Tucson, AZ
85721; URL www.uapress.arizona.edu. viii + 304
pp. (hardcover). US$ 35.00. ISBN 0-8165-2513-
7.
Baboquivari Peak—considered the sacred center
of the world by the O’odham—dominates the skyline
southwest of where I live on the western foothills of
2006] BOOK REVIEWS
the Sierrita Mountains. The Tohono O’odham (for-
merly Papago) Reservation lies on the western side of
the Baboquivari range below that peak. East across
the Sierrita Mountains, in the Santa Cruz Valley, is
another reservation segment where the Mission San
Xavier del Bac stands. The Tumacacori Mission is
south in that valley. The United States government fi-
nally “gave” to the O’odham pieces of what had been
theirs for probably 3,000 years (cf. Chap. 2).
The Santa Cruz Valley is now clogged with urban
sprawl sucking the water from the Santa Cruz River
and adjacent arid lands. Consideration of human
lives, laws, natural landscapes, and other marks of
what we euphemistically call “civilization” were not
part of the valley’s conversion. This book tells of that
change with a unique combination of anthropology,
history, and geography.
Sheridan provides a stage-by-stage history of the
frauds perpetrated on the southern Santa Cruz Valley
between the 1600s and 1970s in two parts. First is
“Landscapes of Community,” i.e., reproducing
human communities, not generating profit. He intro-
duces this with the O’odham’s origin stories. The
world-view of these indigenous people was so differ-
ent from the Europeans’ that the newcomers consid-
ered the land theirs for the taking. Those swindles
started with the Jesuits and Franciscans, and contin-
ued with a Mexican military strongman who dis-
placed the O’odham.
The second part, “Landscapes of Fraud,” details an
evolving capitalist world system. Here Sheridan de-
scribes early Anglo speculation and the Tumacacori
and Baca Float No. 3 Land Grants. Concerning the
manipulation of those, he tells about “Fictitious Cap-
ital” (real estate bought and sold by speculators for
its future value) and “Fictitious Landscapes” (e.g.,
the intermittent Santa Cruz River touted as navigable
by ships), “Rio Rico and the Great Arizona Land
Rush,” where companies fraudulently sold land with
no hope of use in the foreseeable future, and other
chapters.
Anthropologists tell us that this kind of history is
part of the normal progression of cultural contacts.
Biologists view it as part of the struggle to obtain
limited resources. The conflicts will be familiar to
everyone, but I know of no others so carefully docu-
mented and skillfully discussed. This is Sheridan’s
most elegant prose yet!
Daniel F. Austin
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Tucson, AZ 85743
daustin@desertmuseum.org
Phytoliths (a comprehensive guide for archaeolo-
gist and paleoecologists). Piperno, Dolores R.
2006. AltaMira Press, The Rowman & Littlefield
391
Publishing Group, 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite
200, Lanham, MD 20706, USA; www.altamira-
press.com. 238 pp. US$ 59.95 (paperback), US$
125.00 (hardcover). ISBN 0-7591-0385-2 (paper-
back), 0-7591-0384-4 (hardcover).
Phytoliths are particles of hydrated silica formed
in living tissues that are liberated after plants die and
decay. They are also named opal phytoliths, silica
phytoliths, silica cells, plant opal, or biogenic opal.
The term “phytolith,” from the Greek meaning
“plant-stone,” has sometimes been used to indicate
all forms of mineralized substances secreted by
higher plants, whether siliceous or calcareous in
composition. Phytoliths with taxonomic significance
are produced in large numbers by many types of
higher plants, and they exhibit remarkable durability
in soils and sediments over long periods of time.
They have shapes and sizes that have potential uses
in palaeoecology, archaeology, and food science. In
certain sediments they are relatively durable, and can
be used by archaeologists to determine what people
were growing and eating in the past. Phytolith analy-
sis becomes a crucial tool when macro-botanical re-
mains are lacking, scarce, or poorly preserved.
The author published in 1988 the book Phytolith
analysis: an archaeological and geological perspec-
tive. This new book retains a similar structure but
many topics are revised and expanded. The book is
divided in 8 chapters and 1 appendix. It includes an
introduction with an interesting short history of phy-
tolith research.
The appendix includes most of the photographs of
phytoliths from modern plant species. SEM micro-
graphs are reproduced with low quality, whereas opti-
cal microscopy photographs are acceptable. The book
is exclusively illustrated with black and white figures.
The different chapters contain photographs of phy-
toliths from archaeological and paleoecological re-
search, along with other types of figures, such as
graphics of statistical studies and phytolith/pollen di-
agrams. The references are numerous, extending
through 18 pages. Finally, the index is complete and
is of great aid in the use of the book.
This book is useful to archeologists and palaeob-
otanists in the classroom or the laboratory as the title
suggests. Coverage is strongly oriented to the
neotropical flora. However it also contains relevant
and valuable information on Old World tropical and
non-tropical plant species. The edition is careful and
the coverage exhaustive. The book is good and is
strongly recommended, however a minor fault is the
price, particularly the hardcover edition.
Concepción Obón
Applied Biology Department
University Miguel Hernández
03312-Orihuela (Alicante)- Spain
cobon@umh.es
and
392 ECONOMIC BOTANY
Diego Rivera
Plant Biology Department
University of Murcia
Murcia, Spain
drivera@um.es
Plant Conservation. An Ecosystem Approach.
Hamilton, Alan and Patrick Hamilton. 2006.
Earthscan, London and Stylus Publishing, LLC,
22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-
2012; URL: styluspub.com. xxvi + 324 pp. (pa-
perback). £ 24.95. ISBN 1-84407-083-2.
Plant Conservation is the latest volume of the well
known “People and Plants Conservation Series.”
Alan and Patrick Hamilton attempt a synthesis of the
key information contained in the earlier books of the
series, while giving an outlook on the future.
A central theme of the book is that the sustainable
use of plants, and conservation of plant resources can
best be achieved when the local people are involved.
Hamilton & Hamilton arrange 14 chapters around
this topic, and conclude with an excellent bibliogra-
phy.
Perspectives in Plant Conservation sets the stage
for plant conservation and how to approach it. Chap-
ter two (Threats to Plants) specifies the various
causes of plant loss, from local harvesting activities
to global climatic change and pollution. Actors and
Stages introduces conservationists, governments,
NGOs, and research institutions as the main actors in
plant conservation, and gives a short outline of inter-
national treaties that govern the topic. Chapter four
(Information, Knowledge, Learning and Research) in
turn addresses the knowledge and role of indigenous
communities. Plant Life summarizes the indigenous
concepts of plant nomenclature, parts, and uses. Im-
portant medicinal concepts are listed, and finally, a
short overview on the current scientific knowledge
about vegetation types and regeneration dynamics is
given. The Management of Plants and Land, Mean-
ings focuses on common land use and management
practices like grazing and agroforestry, and their in-
fluence on plant populations. The authors expand the
view on the importance of plants in Values and Uses
of Plants by adding information on the symbolic and
religious significance of plants, and end with the
present and future economic value of plants. The Pat-
terns of Plants introduces biogeography, while chap-
ter nine (Plants and Places: Choices, Priorities and
Standards) tries to point out priorities for plant con-
servation. Possession, Property and Protection looks
at the importance of property rights. Chapters eleven
(Approaches to In Situ Conservation) and twelve
(Projects with Communities) explain the importance
of local participation for in-situ conservation, while
chapter thirteen (Ex Situ Conservation) gives an
[VOL. 60
overview on ex-situ efforts. Finally, Plant Trade fo-
cuses on the global trade in plants and plant products.
The conservation of plants alone is a huge field.
The flood of information becomes almost unmanage-
able when plant use and global plant markets are
taken into account. With this book the authors
achieved a real synthesis of the results the “People
and Plants” program has amassed over fourteen
years. The book gives any reader a great wealth of in-
formation about all facets of a difficult topic, without
going too deeply into details. With its comprehensive
bibliography it is a resource that nobody with serious
interest in plant conservation can ignore.
Rainer W. Bussmann
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, HI 96822-1180
bussmann@hawaii.edu
Drosera (Droseraceae). Flora Neotropica Mono-
graph 96. Correa A., Mireya D. and Tânia Regina
dos Santos Silva. 2005. New York Botanical Gar-
den Press, Bronx, NY 10458; sciweb.nybg.org. iv
+ 68 pages, paperback. US$ 25.00. ISBN 089327-
463-1, ISSN 0071-5794.
The insectivorous Droseraceae are worldwide,
with 3 or 4 recognized genera. (The shrubby Droso-
phyllum, of Iberia and adjacent Morocco, may be
segregated as Drosophyllaceae.) Only Drosera occurs
in the New World, represented by about 30 species,
of which 20 species occur in the neotropics and are
the subject of this treatment. There was obviously a
decision taken to restrict the coverage to those
species and exclude those north of the Tropic of Can-
cer or south of the Tropic of Capricorn, because some
of the northern temperate-zone species are circumbo-
real, which leads into the Old World species, and
soon we’d have a monograph of the entire genus, es-
timated to include about 160 species.
Drosera brevifolia Pursh will serve to illustrate the
problem these workers faced. (This is the cover illus-
tration, incidentally.) The species occurs in the USA
along the coastal plain from Virginia to Florida and
Texas, as well as in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Ken-
tucky, and disjunctly into the Caribbean, southern
Mexico, Belize, and South America. The proper
range statement is given, but the range map (Fig. 12,
p. 18) omits its northern, non-tropical distribution;
the range map does, however, include its southern,
non-tropical distribution. Translation problem: within
the range statement, there is a reference to “Golfo de
Virginia.” I have no idea what this is, whether in
Spanish or in English, though I suspect Chesapeake
Bay is meant.
Drosera intermedia, which extends from Europe to
both North and South America, is something of the
same problem; its range map (Fig. 13, p. 19) simply
2006] BOOK REVIEWS
shows its range within the Neotropics, and all other
range information is suppressed. The range statement
on p. 43 is thorough and unambiguous, but the figure
caption says “Distribución geográfica de Drosera in-
termedia,” which is faintly misleading.
A recent thorough review of this work, Darnowski
(2006), called attention to the variable quality of the
reproductions of photographs. I note that the book
was printed using soy-based ink, and I wonder
whether this is part of the problem. By contrast, the
line drawings of each of the species are crisp and
sharp, and altogether useful.
More importantly, Darnowski called attention to
the book’s omission of four Brazilian species of
Drosera, whose descriptions were published in 2003.
It’s unfortunate, but it may well be that this book
“closed” before the omitted work appeared on library
shelves. In any case, the work is a useful addition to
the literature.
I failed to find any references or allusions to eco-
nomic uses of the sundews. Perhaps because they are
so small and because they grow in boggy, miry
places, they have not found a place in folk medicine.
Editor’s Note: Au contraire mon ami! There are
numerous uses of Drosera by people throughout
much of their range (cf. Austin 2004).
Literature Cited
Austin, D. F. 2004. Florida Ethnobotany. CRC Press,
Boca Raton, FL.
Darnowski, D. [Review of] Drosera (Droseraceae).
Flora Neotropica Monograph 96, etc. Plant Sci-
ence Bulletin 52(2): 72–73.
Neil A. Harriman
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901 USA
harriman@uwosh.edu
Siparunaceae. Flora Neotropica Monograph 95.
Renner, Susanne S. and Gerline Hausner. 2005.
The New York Botanical Garden Press, 200th
Street and Kazimiroff Blvd., Bronx, NY 10458-
5126; www.nybg.org. 256 pp. (hardcover). US$
62.00. lSBN 0-89327-462-3.
The family Siparunaceae includes just two genera,
the West African monotypic genus Glossocalyx
(treated fully here for the sake of completeness) and
the New World tropical genus Siparuna, with roughly
60 species. There are 52 recognized species, plus a
number of others known from incomplete collections
that may someday be named to science, as more
ample collections become available. Both genera
were long considered to be part of Monimiaceae, but
molecular data (not included here) argue for the esta-
blishment of a separate family, Siparunaceae.
393
The monograph is thorough and traditional. The
authors remark that one of their motives in undertak-
ing the work was that thousands of unidentified spec-
imens had accumulated in herbaria; the only resource
to identify them was a monograph from 1901, by
Miss Janet Russell Perkins, based on 261 collections.
By contrast, the present work (submitted in 2001)
was based on about 8200 collections, and the authors
offer the hope that their monograph will provide the
basis for another in 2101. (The list of exsiccatae is 40
pages in two-column format.) Somehow, the authors
found a photograph of Miss Perkins, used as a fron-
tispiece to the monograph.
For each species, “Local names” or “Local Names
and Uses” are given. Many of the species find use in
folk medicine. All of this information is nicely sum-
marized on pages 33-34, “Chemistry and Ethnob-
otany (Uses).” There are no comments offered as to
the efficacy of these treatments; it seems likely that
clinical trials have not been conducted. Rain-
tree.com/siparuna contains a great deal of “informa-
tion” for the ethnobotanist, perhaps at least for now
to be taken cum grano salis.
Neil A. Harriman
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
harriman@uwosh.edu
Tococa (Melastomaceae). Flora Neotropica Mono-
graph 98. Michelangeli, Fabián. 2005. The New
York Botanical Garden Press, 200th Street and
Kazimiroff Blvd., Bronx, NY 10458-5126. 120
pp. (hardcover). US$ 30.00. ISBN 0-89327-466-
6.
The reader will notice that the title of this work
does not include the word “monograph.” In the tra-
ditional sense, it is a monograph, a scholarly and
detailed treatment of a group of tropical melas-
tomes, with 45 recognized species and two “poorly
known taxa.” The difficulty is that cladistic analysis
(based both on molecular data and morphology)
shows the group (treated here as a genus) is not
monophyletic. The author is then faced with the dif-
ficulty of treating a group that isn’t a group. His so-
lution is to use the generic name in the traditional
sense, and to write keys and descriptions in the clas-
sic pattern.
The species that don’t fall within the cladistic
boundaries of Tococa are included in the keys, and
they are fully treated, but as species incertae sedis
(species of uncertain standing), beginning on page
85. These species are referred to repeatedly in the in-
troductory remarks—it would have been helpful to
have had a reference to page 85, so that one could see
immediately what disposition is made of them. Be-
cause the genus as treated here is not a single clade,
394 ECONOMIC BOTANY
as is made clear repeatedly, the author abandons any
attempt to characterize infrageneric categories.
The cladistic analysis is not the core of the book,
and only a single cladogram is given on page 17. It is
difficult to follow, unless one knows that Miconia is
abbreviated as “M.” Several of the species in the fig-
ure are not included in the index to the volume, and it
is tricky to figure out what disposition of those was
made. The misspellings of several epithets are of no
moment, but they made me wonder whether the soft-
ware used by cladists poses special difficulties in ed-
iting typos.
The ethnobotany of the genus is treated on page
23. One is intrigued to learn that several species are
believed to be useful in determining the sex of un-
born children. For a detailed appreciation of this au-
thor’s fine work, one may wish to refer to an earlier
review by Aaron M. Ellison, Plant Science Bulletin
51(4): 153-154. 2005.
Neil A. Harriman
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
harriman@uwosh.edu
Handbook of Statistics for Teaching and Research
in Plant and Crop Science. Palaniswamy, Usha
Rani and Kodiveri Muniyappa Palaniswamy.
2005. Food Products Press, an imprint of The Ha-
worth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton,
NY 13904-1580. xxiv + 624 pp. (paperback). US$
79.95. 978-1-56022-293-X.
Statistical tools have become indispensable in in-
terpreting biological data and are a standard part of
the coursework in most university programs in the
plant sciences. The authors of this handbook have
drawn upon their extensive experience to create a re-
view of experimental and statistical methods that a
novice plant researcher might encounter.
The book has two distinct sections. Part I (chapters
1-14) reviews fundamental statistical concepts, in-
cluding measures of central tendency, normal distri-
bution, probability, regression, and correlation. The
heart of the book, however, is part II (chapters 15-
29), which examines experimental designs. The
reader is first introduced to the principles of analysis
of variance (ANOVA) and then entire chapters are
devoted to different experiments like completely ran-
domized, randomized complete block, Latin squares,
factorial, split plot, split block, and even the com-
pletely confounded design. In both parts, detail has
been provided to help with a minimal background in
mathematics.
As expected, material in the book overlaps with
other available textbooks; the authors have synthe-
sized material from several standard sources in a con-
cise manner. A major strength is that this volume ex-
[VOL. 60
plains mathematical algorithms for each test clearly
and in detail. There are a variety of exercises. Even
though the content is extensive, the text is simple and
lucid. Chapters gradually progress from easier to
more difficult aspects of their topics. The index is
well organized, making the book a quick reference
guide. Legends for graphs and figures are clear and
understandable.
However, there are aspects of the book that make it
challenging. The cramped organization of the para-
graphs creates a visual strain. Often it is difficult to
separate tables from the columns of data laid out in
the middle of the text. Table legends, especially in
part II, are too brief and do not stand-alone.
Although the title of the book points toward the
crop scientist, the preface suggests a wider reader-
ship, including economists and medical researchers.
The confusion about the target audience is reflected
in examples that skip between plant and “non plant”
studies. The authors could have aimed the material at
a niche of plant scientists by focusing on botanical
examples, e.g., p. 226, a case study illustrating rank
correlation analysis uses data from a job interview.
This might have been better served by an analogous
example from ethnobotany.
There is no reference to primary literature using a
particular experimental design. Many examples of
data used are derived from doctoral theses that are
hard to access. A key to the solutions for numerical
exercises is missing, as is a reflection on software
available for calculations of large datasets generated
by the experimental designs.
At nearly US$ 80, the book is just as expensive as
any other on statistics. However the book can be a
useful and handy instructional tool and reference
guide, especially for undergraduates.
Aswini Pai
St. Lawrence University
Canton, NY 13617
apai@stlawu.edu
Trading in Genes. Development Perspectives on
Biotechnology, Trade and Sustainability.
Melendez-Ortiz, Ricardo and Vicente Sanchez,
eds. 2005. Stylus Publishing LLC, 22883 Quick-
silver Drive, Sterling, VA. 20166-2012. xxvi +
294 pp. (paperback). US$ 45.00. ISBN 1-84407-
028-X.
This is a book that will keep the reader alert. It dis-
cusses several urgent matters related to biotechnol-
ogy and trade, and the legal aspects of international
agreements and conventions that concern them. As a
whole the book may be of interest only at the present
time. However, most articles present the issues from
various perspectives, including historical background
and trends.
2006] BOOK REVIEWS
The book addresses the challenges posed to devel-
oping countries by rapidly advancing bio-based tech-
nologies and developments, and the emerging global
policy frameworks and controversies, including those
generated by WTO. It mainly draws on presentations
given at a seminar lead by Vicente Sanchez, and or-
ganized under the auspices of the International Cen-
tre for Trade and Sustainable Development (Bellevue,
Switzerland, June 2001). Not all chapters do justice
to the complexity and variety of public policy and in-
dividual concerns, but most represent at least a well-
documented introduction to the subjects.
Part one highlights the links between biotechnol-
ogy, trade, and sustainable development. The “global
bioeconomy” is presented, focusing on agricultural
and pharmaceutical problems, whereas governance
issues are developed that should help developing
countries to participate. Of particular interest is the
contribution dealing with the barriers that prevent de-
veloping countries from benefiting from biotechnol-
ogy, as it points to constraints within developing
countries as well as external forces; this should serve
as an eye opener for activists who seem to think only
the developed countries are to blame for what goes
wrong at this level. The same text deals with safety
concerns that continue to surround this technology
and point to loopholes in the Biosafety Protocol. An-
other contribution highlights intellectual property
rights and limited scientific and technological capaci-
ties as important constraints faced by developing
countries, and shows how these limit the potential for
agricultural biotechnology for the developing coun-
tries. The position taken by Brazil and Argentina
(Chapter 6), which seem to have little problem in
adopting these kinds of technology, is compared to
Colombia’s cassava case (Chapter 7).
Part two includes a series of chapters addressing
the challenges for current regulatory frameworks to
address trade in biotechnology, and highlights op-
tions to address constraints. TRIPS (Trade Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) and Carta-
gena Protocol are reviewed and discussed. The good
news (cf. Chapter 11) could be that trade-regulating
measures under the Protocol are unlikely to cause
conflict with WTO rules or be disregarded in a dis-
pute. The appendices set out relevant international
legal frameworks for biotechnology, biosafety, and
trade (I). Appendix II describes the status of biotech-
nology approvals in a number of key countries, a sit-
uation that is changing continuously and can better
be monitored by other means. A list of selected read-
ings finishes the book; they provide good leads for
further information, but the list of useful internet
links could have been more extensive.
The book mainly deals with legal aspects of con-
ventions, protocols, and agreements. This might not
seem to interest economic botanists, however, most
authors captivate the reader and guide him/her
395
through sometimes “dry” matters. In this respect, it is
a good read for those who want to know more about
“biodiversity and WTO”, and want to know the
different arguments used in the discussions.
Patrick Van Damme
Universiteit Gent
Gent, Belgium
patrick.vandamme@UGent.be
First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Soci-
eties. Bellwood, Peter S. 2004. Blackwell Pub-
lishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ
UK. xix + 360 pp. (softcover). US$ 29.95,
£18.99. ISBN 0-631-20566-7.
This book has been widely praised by archaeolo-
gists and anthropologists, and deserves the same at-
tention among ethno- and economic botanists, and
geneticists interested in crop origins and distribu-
tions. The “early farming dispersal hypothesis,” of
which Peter Bellwood is a major proponent, seeks to
explain similarities among human groups who devel-
oped competent food production systems that fueled
their dispersals and which help explain the distribu-
tion of the major language families on a planetary
scale.
The initial chapters explain the hypothesis, put it
into perspective and provide the conceptual frame-
work for the integration of archaeological, linguistic,
and human genetic information to study the
Holocene. Archaeobotany, ethnobotany, and eco-
nomic botany are all included within the framework,
but have not yet been fully integrated into the hypoth-
esis. The opportunities for this are clear throughout
the book.
A pair of chapters deal with Southwest Asia—the
Fertile Crescent—as this is the best studied region in
the world. These chapters are heavy on archaeology,
Bellwood’s specialty, and are sometimes heavy going
for the non-archaeologist. There is clear use of ar-
chaeobotanical information and the careful archaeol-
ogy provides precise chronological information,
something that linguistics and genetics can not pro-
vide.
Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania are
the subjects of the next chapters. African archaeology
is still sparse but provides interesting clues of indige-
nous developments as well as dispersal from the
Southwest Asian center of agricultural origins. East
Asia is a clearly independent set of events, whose ar-
chaeology is increasingly well known. Southeast Asia
and Oceania is Bellwood’s home territory and a
wealth of information is available. An independent
origin of agriculture is increasingly clear in New
Guinea, with a distinct crop repertoire requiring
much more work.
The Americas get only one chapter, to my disap-
396 ECONOMIC BOTANY
pointment, and Bellwood recognizes that he has not
done justice to the expanding work on the origins of
food production there. Archaeobotanical information
is included in the archaeology and the review covers
most of the major work, but Americanists will iden-
tify clear opportunities for their own synthesis and
analysis of the hypothesis.
The next chapters integrate linguistics into the hy-
pothesis. A clear discussion of comparative (histori-
cal) linguistics points out its strengths and weakness,
and how it contributes to the hypothesis. The major
language families are thoroughly examined, and then
the archaeological and linguistic data sets are com-
pared to identify congruencies and discrepancies.
Again the Americas are less thoroughly reviewed and
cry out for more work. The chapter on human genet-
ics and skeletal anthropology is a good review, and
provides further support for the hypothesis, but also
raises numerous questions for future work.
The final chapter pulls it all together, recognizing
the limitations of the hypothesis and the various data
sets used. The best thing about this hypothesis is that
it is testable and best tested in a multi-disciplinary
framework. This framework is often discussed but
seldom practiced, and this hypothesis offers an op-
portunity for some serious practice. I found the vol-
ume fascinating and informative, and expect that my
students will also.
Charles R. Clement
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil
cclement@inpa.gov.br
Meaning, Medicine, and the “Placebo Effect.” Mo-
erman, Daniel. 2002. University of Cambridge,
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cam-
bridge, UK. xiv + 172 pp. (paperback). US$
22.99, £14.99. ISBN 0-521-00087-4.
This fascinating book summarizes everything
known about the “placebo effect,” a real phenomenon
better described as a “meaning response,” since it is
culturally influenced and not confined to inert sub-
stances. Numerous studies show that the efficacy of
even a biologically active drug can be influenced by
the physician’s belief in it, the patient’s awareness of
receiving it, the dosing schedule, dose form, brand
name, and even pill color, depending upon cultural
preferences. Healing, in Moerman’s view, always in-
cludes three factors: autonomous healing and the spe-
cific and meaning responses to treatment. Modern
Western medicine assumes that its results are due to
specific activities and that only certain (perhaps psy-
chologically inferior) people experience “placebo ef-
fects,” which clinical trials can exclude. But Moer-
man demonstrates that every intervention,
inescapably, contains some meaning, and that effects
[VOL. 60
even of extreme treatments such as surgery are in part
meaning responses.
Why should ethnobotanists be interested? Tradi-
tional medical systems usually have conspicuous
meaning components. Moerman gives the example of
a Navajo chant way, but less dramatic treatments
(e.g., preparing and drinking teas) also have cultural
meanings and emotional effects. The robot-repair
school of medicine believes that such treatments
should either be automatically rejected, reduced to a
capsular form for testing, or tested against a placebo
with equal meaning, as in sham acupuncture; mean-
ing responses are thereby defined as irrelevant and
swept under the rug. However, cultural influences are
a fundamental part of human nature; we need to de-
velop scientific methods and medical practices that
acknowledge them.
This mass of data raises questions regarding stud-
ies of both alternative and conventional treatments.
The news sometimes claims that an herb with twenty
positive European clinical trials has been “proven
worthless” by one American study whose results are
negative or can be so spun, such as Shelton et al.
(2001), the Pfizer-funded St. John’s wort trial that in-
cluded no pharmaceutical arm. Abascal and Yarnell
(2001) noted that the researchers not only seemed
convinced there was no active treatment group, but
took overt measures apparently designed to convince
the patients of it. Given the proven influence of
physician attitude on outcomes, the positive trends
buried in Shelton et al.’s data were startling. Other
means of influencing results come to mind: if large
blue sedatives are more effective, and you want to
make a sedative appear weak, use small orange cap-
sules. Publications do not specify such details. I won-
der if Moerman realized that he was supplying help-
ful hints on how to manipulate trial results.
This book could be valuable to health care con-
sumers. You learn, for example, that selecting an en-
thusiastic physician may improve the performance of
your drugs, and that heart patients who take placebos
as prescribed have lower death rates than those who
take active drugs but skip many doses—so take all
your pills! Although scientifically rigorous, the book
is written in an accessible and entertaining style.
(There is one confusing typo and one missing refer-
ence.)
Literature Cited
Abascal, K. and Yarnell, E. 2001. New St. John’s
wort study raises more questions than answers.
Alternative and Complementary Therapies 7:171–
173.
Shelton, R. C., Keller, M. B., Gelenberg, A., et al.
2001. Effectiveness of St. John’s wort in major
depression: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA
285:1978–1986.
Wendy Applequist
2006] BOOK REVIEWS
Missouri Botanical Garden
St. Louis, MO 63166-0299
wendy.applequist@mobot.org
Editor-in-Chief’s Note: The author assures the
Editor-in-Chief that he was aware of the possibility sug-
gested by the reviewer– that he was supplying hints on
how to manipulate trial results– but he was confident the
relevant individuals would never read the book.
Elsevier’s Dictionary of Trees, Volume 1, North
America, with names in Latin, English,
French, Spanish and other languages. Com-
piled by Miroslav M. Grandtner. 2005. Elsevier
B.V., P.O. Box 211, 1000 AE, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands; www.elsevier.com. xxxv + 1493 pp.
(hardcover). US$ 220.00, 181, £125. ISBN 0-
444-51784-7.
I looked forward to an encyclopedic book on
North American trees that includes the entire conti-
nent from Panama to the Arctic. The extensive list of
“scientific collaborators” further fueled optimism. I
was disappointed, in spite of rave reviews online. Er-
rors, omissions, incorrect and incomplete distribu-
tions, and foolish, fabricated common names are le-
gion. Reviewers of course first check their own areas
of experience. If coverage of southwestern United
States and Mexico, especially northwestern Mexico,
indicate quality, then I do not recommend this expen-
sive book. Many major works are not included in
“references” and were obviously not consulted. Yet
many taxa and “better known” regions are well cov-
ered, and if you use this book only as a starting point
it can be helpful.
I like having major reference books on the shelf as
well as having the information online. But for this
book there is little advantage to a printed version.
Just a few examples of my gripes: Dioon spinulosum,
from Oaxaca, often reaching 12 m and sometimes
more than 16 m tall, is the world’s second tallest
cycad. It is not included. There is no mention of Pop-
ulus mexicana subsp. dimorpha (P. dimorpha), the
great tropical cottonwood or álamo of northwestern
Mexico. Opuntia fulgida is called “jumping prickly-
pear.” It is most certainly not a prickly-pear and is
listed for Baja California but does not occur there,
and there is no mention of the two well-known vari-
eties. Fabricated common names include “typical”
for nominate varieties, e.g., “typical discolor ele-
phanttree” for Pachycormus discolor var. discolor.
The tree morning glory, Ipomoea arborescens, is
listed for Arizona and New Mexico; it does not occur
in the United States. Different congeneric species of
Cercidium are treated in that genus as well as in
Parkinsonia. The list goes on and on.
In all fairness, however, this book represents a
397
heroic endeavor and I can only imagine the level of
funding and effort necessary to bring it to an accept-
able standard. A revision, especially on line, would
be highly worthwhile. I hope future volumes, if com-
pleted, will be more accurate.
Richard Felger
Drylands Institute
Tucson, AZ 85719
rfelger@drylands.org
Illustrated Flora of East Texas: Volume 1. Intro-
duction, Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, and
Monocotyledons. Diggs, George M. J., Barney L.
Lipscomb, Monique D. Reed, and Robert J.
O’Kennon. 2006. Center for Environmental Stud-
ies and Department of Biology, Austin College,
Sherman, TX and Botanical Research Institute of
Texas (BRIT), 509 Pecan Street, Fort Worth, TX
76102-4060. xviii + 1594 pp. (hardcover). $89.95.
ISBN 1-889878-12-X.
Economic Botany has reviewed 65 floras since
2000. In mainland North American, six of those were
the Flora of North America volumes; the others in-
cluded Florida (58:118. 2005), the Gran Desierto and
Rio Colorado Delta (55:467. 2001), the Intermoun-
tain Flora (60:201. 2006), Illinois (57:153. 2003),
Missouri (54:234. 2001), North Central Texas
(54:240. 2000), and Utah (60: 201. 2006). Reviewers
considered these contributions from “quaint” to “out-
standing.” I consider this the best yet.
All of these floras contain the basic identification
keys, descriptions, ranges at least within the geo-
graphic area covered, phenology, synonymy, and the
like. This book goes beyond that to include more on
geographic ranges, discussions of taxonomically di-
verse opinions, and most important to readers of this
journal, involvement with people.
Most of the comments previously made of Diggs
et al. (54:240) earlier book apply to this tome since
the two have the same format, but this one contains
more details. One of the welcome novelties is county
range maps—including continuous dots along major
east-west highways for Sorghum halpense (p. 1069).
This is a major improvement over the distributions
given by county names, regions, and vegetational
areas used by others.
Like their preceding work on North Central Texas,
this book contains appendices (25 of them!). The one
that particularly caught my attention was #21 by Cole
Weatherby on Commercially Important Timber Trees
of East Texas (pp. 1302–1341). This contains the ex-
pected descriptions, historical uses, current uses, and
“Other Significant Information,” but the facing page
for each species is outstanding. These have a county
map, a line drawing, and color photographs of the
wood, a leaf, a branch, and the bark. That addition is
398 ECONOMIC BOTANY
unique in a flora. Another exceptional element is the
Authors’ Note (p. 30). Here they make a plea that
readers send them “corrections, suggestions, or addi-
tions” so they may be incorporated into volumes 2
and 3 (Dicots) currently being written.
The authors have again succeeded in achieving
their goal to make a “flora more user-friendly” (p. 2).
This flora will be useful for everyone; it is wonder-
fully done! Anyone examining this volume will anx-
iously await the next two.
Daniel F. Austin
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Tucson, AZ 85743
daustin@desertmuseum.org
Documenting Domestication. New Genetic and
Archaeological Paradigms. Zeder, Melinda A.,
Daniel G. Bradley, Eve Emschwiller, and Bruce
D. Smith, eds. 2006. University of California
Press, Berkeley, CA. xiv + 361 pp. (hardcover).
US$ 70.00, £45.00. ISBN 0-520-24638-1, 978-0-
520-24638-6.
This well-organized and well-edited volume is a
‘must have’ for any student of plant or animal domes-
tication. Today the group includes people active in
disciplines other than archaeology and genetics, all
seeking to document domestication and the develop-
ment of the food production systems underlying the
expansion of the major language families during the
Holocene that finally gave rise to modern society.
The embryo of this volume was an AAAS sympo-
sium in 2001 that provided an overview of the adop-
tion of new technologies and concepts in archaeology
and molecular genetics in the last two decades. The
original four sections of the symposium provide the
framework for the volume, with an introductory
overview provided by the volume editor-authors.
In the overview, the various new approaches to
documenting domestication in archaeology and mo-
lecular genetics are introduced, with a general discus-
sion of their strengths and weaknesses. Care is taken
to explain the terminology of genetics for the non-
geneticists, both in the overview and throughout, to
make the whole volume more accessible to scientists
from other disciplines. The questions that archaeol-
ogy and genetics can address synergistically are in-
troduced: identification of wild progenitors, the num-
ber and location of domestication events, the
dispersal of domesticates, and the temporal sequence
of domestication. The promise of ancient DNA is in-
troduced and discussed, as this can firmly root ge-
netic analyses in carefully dated archaeological con-
texts, permitting “proof” of time depth in genetics.
Smith focuses on archaeological documentation of
plant domestication, examining in detail the new ap-
proaches and reviewing the major recent advances,
[VOL. 60
providing a framework for the in-depth chapters on
the use of macro- and micro-morphological markers
to document different primary questions about the
domestication of squash (Cucurbita pepo),
Chenopodium spp., manioc (Manihot esculenta),
plantain (Musa spp.), and maize (Zea mays). Charles
Mbida and colleagues, for example, used phytoliths
to show that plantains arrived in Africa much earlier
than previously hypothesized and were quickly dis-
persed across the continent to Cameroon to become a
part of the food production system that later fueled
the great Bantu expansion.
Emshwiller similarly focuses on genetic documen-
tation of plant domestication and introduces the in-
depth chapters that use molecular genetics to docu-
ment domestication in manioc, Chinese chives
(Allium tuberosum & A. ramosum), olive (Olea eu-
ropaea), and oca (Oxalis tuberosa). Catherine Breton
and colleagues used multiple molecular markers to
examine the first three primary questions about olive,
accomplishing a major re-evaluation of its wild pro-
genitors, the number and location of domestication
events, and the dispersal of domesticates from the
Fertile Crescent, Corsica, and Spain.
Zeder focuses on archaeological documentation of
animal domestication and introduces in-depth chap-
ters on goats (Capra hircus), pigs (Sus scrofa), South
American camelids (Lama glama & L. pacos), and
horses (Equus caballus). In the final section, Bradley
focuses on genetic documentation of animal domesti-
cation, introducing in-depth chapters on dogs (Canis
familiaris), goats, sheep (Ovis aries), cattle (Bos indi-
cus & B. taurus), South American camelids, and
horses and donkeys (Equus asinus). As the editors
point out, cross fertilization of plant and animal re-
searchers is rare but provides insights that a single
phylum can not. This volume proves their point per-
fectly.
Charles R. Clement
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil
cclement@inpa.gov.br
CRC World Dictionary of Grasses. Common
Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms,
and Etymology. Quattrocchi, Umberto. 2006.
CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 6000 Broken
Sound Pkwy. NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL
33487. Vol. 1. A-D, Vol. 2 E-O, Vol. 3 P-Z, Bibli-
ography. x + 2383 pp (hardcover). US$ 650.00,
£375.00. ISBN 0-8493-1303-1.
Quattrocchi, a professor at the University of
Palermo, provides this literature revision of the
world’s grasses. Although he admits that he is neither
a taxonomist nor a grass specialist, Quattrocchi
thought that this compilation might be useful. As an-
2006] BOOK REVIEWS
other non-specialist, I assure readers that it is helpful.
During the three decades I lived in Florida, I gained a
reputation with grasses—one colleague said of me
“He doesn’t do grasses!” Although I generally avoid
them, I have studied them more since moving to Ari-
zona (e.g., Economic Botany 60(2):143–158). Here I
live in a desert grassland, so I consider this book
from that habitat.
The format of the entries is standardized, with vari-
ations. Each genus, with authorities, is listed alphabet-
ically, followed by synonyms and etymology, but the
next material is inconsistent. Many of the genera are
followed by the number of species, geographic range,
tribal and higher placement, a brief description, type
species, and pertinent literature. Some genera have
lists of species with binomials and authorities, syn-
onyms, and etymology of the specific names. The
oddity is that some genera have all the information
except the species, and others have neither the generic
description nor species. Another discrepancy is that
common names are given for some and not for others.
Of this Quattrocchi writes “Obviously, this listing is
not meant to be exhaustive,” but he hopes that it will
“. . . serve as a starting point for something better.”
I also note fluctuations in the numerous references.
399
There is reasonably current literature citation for the
Old World (some in 2005), but mostly older refer-
ences for the New. Many recent American sources
are omitted. Full citations are given for each entry,
creating enormous duplication. In addition, there is a
Bibliography, generating more redundancy. Quattroc-
chi anticipated that criticism, writing “I understand
that such an arrangement makes necessary the dupli-
cation of many details, but I believe this is advanta-
geous in that each subject and each entry is a ‘self-
contained unit’ which can be utilized without
reference elsewhere.”
Quattrocchi is known for his CRC World Dictio-
nary of Plant Names (1999). My copy of that has
several missed genera penciled in, and some quibbles
about the derivations of certain generic names. This
second magnum opus is already acquiring similar ad-
ditions, but now we have easier and better access to
grass data than ever before in human history. That is
a marked step forward. Congratulazioni Professor
Quattrocchi!
Daniel F. Austin
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Tucson, AZ 85743
daustin@desertmuseum.org