Potions, Poisons, and Panaceas : An Ethnobotanical Study of Montserrat

This ethnobotanical study of the island of Montserrat is an engaging catalog rich in information about plants and the integral part they play in Caribbean culture, history, and folklore. In addition to twenty-four color plates and fifty-two black-and-white photographs, Brussell’s study contains an exhaustive list of 378 botanical entries, featuring 282 species of ethnobotanically important plants representing 78 families. David Eric Brussell begins this volume with an informative summary of the previous botanical research of the flora of Montserrat conducted by early scientists and explorers. He then describes his own collecting methodology and looks at the significance of the study area’s geography, climate, vegetation, and history. His extensive catalog of the plants and their uses, however, comprises the major portion of the book, with the appendix listing all the collected plants as well as the author’s field collection records. Of particular note is Brussell’s investigation of the flora in regard to Caribbean culture. As a result of his extensive interviews with the West Indian people, Brussell was able to observe their myriad utilizations of the plants in voodoo rituals and practices and as medicines and foodstuffs. Informants also reported using some plants as aphrodisiacs and poisons, insecticides and insect repellents, dyes, building materials, and industrial chemicals. Brussell’s research suggests that further pharmacological investigations of Montserrat’s bioactive plants may yield new medicines, noncarcinogenic insect repellents, or environmentally safe insecticides. This ethnobotanical study of the island of Montserrat is an engaging catalog rich in information about plants and the integral part they play in Caribbean culture, history, and folklore. In addition to twenty-four color plates and fifty-two black-and-white photographs, Brussells study contains an exhaustive list of 378 botanical entries, featuring 282 species of ethnobotanically important plants representing 78 families. David Eric Brussell begins this volume with an informative summary of the previous botanical research of the flora of Montserrat conducted by early scientists and explorers. He then describes his own collecting methodology and looks at the significance of the study areas geography, climate, vegetation, and history. His extensive catalog of the plants and their uses, however, comprises the major portion of the book, with the appendix listing all the collected plants as well as the authors field collection records. Of particular note is Brussells investigation of the flora in regard to Caribbean culture. As a result of his extensive interviews with the West Indian people, Brussell was able to observe their myriad utilizations of the plants in voodoo rituals and practices and as medicines and foodstuffs. Informants also reported using some plants as aphrodisiacs and poisons, insecticides and insect repellents, dyes, building materials, and industrial chemicals. Brussells research suggests that further pharmacological investigations of Montserrats bioactive plants may yield new medicines, noncarcinogenic insect repellents, or environmentally safe insecticides. In this complete ethnobotanical study of the flora of the Caribbean island of Montserrat, David Eric Brussell provides an engaging scientific catalog that is rich in information about the plants and the integral part they play in Caribbean culture, economy, history, and folklore. Including twenty-four color plates and fifty-two black-and-white photographs, this book contains an exhaustive list of 378 botanical entries, featuring 282 species of ethonobotanically important plants and representing seventy-eight families. Recent eruptions of the Soutfriere Hills volcano on Montserrat have made the data collected for this book especially important.