The name to remember: Flexibility and contextuality of preliterate folk plant categorization from the 1830s, in Pernau, Livonia, historical region on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Research on the folk categorization of nature in preliterate societies in Europe is complicated due to the fragmentation of the information available and is rarely undertaken. Yet the data is valuable and may provide, in certain circumstances, important insights, if not into novel medicines, then into the historical logic of selection and memorisation of plants useful from a medicinal perspective. Aims of the study: We aim to understand the ethnobotany of a preliterate society by analysing the emic (derived from people) perspective on nature-related culture of one of Europe's smaller nations, whose written language and culture was shaped in the 18th-19th centuries by other, larger nations of Europe, and thus from the etic (academic) perspective. We attempt to identify how folk categorization is reflected in the relationships between plant names and uses and to map the structure of those relationships. Data and methods: We base our analysis on one of the oldest ethnobotanical manuscripts and herbaria of the Baltic governorates, compiled in 1831 by an amateur botanist, Baltic German Pastor Johann Heinrich Rosenplänter (1782–1846), which was derived from conversations with his parishioners from the tiny Pärnu parish. The historical dataset was critically analysed from an ethnobotanical perspective in light of recent identifications of the herbarium specimens. Results: Although the Rosenplänter collection is fragmentary, the logic of plant categorization by non-literate peasants at that time is clearly seen in the data. Plants preserved in the herbarium were predominantly used for ethno-medicinal, food or ethno-veterinary purposes, such as treating chronic skin and joint diseases as well as severe acute diseases in humans and animals. Among 129 folk taxa analysed, more than one third had apparent purpose-related plant names providing clear links to their use, whereas a few multifunctional plants had several names reflecting diverse uses. For example, Hypericum spp., which was used in three different ways, had three semantically distinct names. However, among the plants that Rosenplänter collected, there were also some that were simply named and described by people but lacked any usability data (e.g., Trollius europaeus), meaning that use as such was not the primary criterion for recognising a plant. The web-like structure of preliterate thinking in plant-related knowledge reveals a deep relationship with the environment and the interpretation of new elements through familiar natural objects. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that historical ethnobotanical data, if thoughtfully analysed, can be used not only for comparative purposes, but also for understanding the logic of preliterate thinking. We encourage future in-depth studies of historical ethnobotanical data in Europe in order to understand the relationship between nature and culture of native European populations

Homogenisation of Biocultural Diversity: Plant Ethnomedicine and Its Diachronic Change in Setomaa and Võromaa, Estonia, in the Last Century

When studying the evolution of the use of medicinal plants, it is important to identify what role, and to what extent, external factors and local biocultural diversities play in shaping cultural changes. We chose as a case study, which forms part of a larger project, a religiously and linguistically distinct group, the Seto, and compared their current and past plant use with that of the surrounding Võro. Ethnobotanical fieldwork was conducted in the summers of 2018 and 2019. Current uses of plants constituted 34% of the total registered use reports and 41% of those were used to treat general diseases or used as prophylactics. In total, the medicinal use of 86 taxa was recorded, and of these 48 were prevalent. Strong erosion (the abandonment of 43, mainly wild taxa used historically) and valorisation of the uses shared with neighboring as well as distant regions once part of the Soviet Union, were evident, signalling the potential influence of the centralised distribution of knowledge. The results clearly show that the plant medicine-related biocultural diversities of the two groups have been considerably homogenised, eroded and influenced by the knowledge spread through various means during the Soviet era and over the last 30 years

Devil is in the details: Use of wild food plants in historical Võromaa and Setomaa, present-day Estonia

Biodiversity needs to be preserved to ensure food security. Border zones create high but vulnerable biocultural diversity. Through reviewing scattered historical data and documenting the current use of wild food plants among people currently living in historical Setomaa and Võromaa parishes, we aimed to identify cross-cultural differences and diachronic changes as well as the role borders have played on the local use of wild plants. The Seto have still preserved their distinctive features either by consciously opposing others or by maintaining more historical plant uses. People historically living in Setomaa and Võromaa parishes have already associated the eating of wild plants with famine food in the early 20th century, yet it was stressed more now by the Seto than by Estonians. Loss of Pechory as the center of attraction in the region when the border was closed in the early 1990s brought about a decline in the exchange of knowledge as well as commercial activities around wild food plants. National support for businesses in the area today and the popularity of a healthy lifestyle have introduced new wild food plant applications and are helping to preserve local plant-specific uses in the area

Early Citizen Science Action in Ethnobotany: The Case of the Folk Medicine Collection of Dr. Mihkel Ostrov in the Territory of Present-Day Estonia, 1891–1893

Presently, collecting data through citizen science (CS) is increasingly being used in botanical, zoological and other studies. However, until now, ethnobotanical studies have underused CS data collection methods. This study analyses the results of the appeal organized by the physician Dr. Mihkel Ostrov (1863–1940), which can be considered the first-ever internationally known systematic example of ethnopharmacological data collection involving citizens. We aim to understand what factors enhanced or diminished the success of the collaboration between Ostrov and the citizens of that time. The reliability of Ostrov’s collection was enhanced by the herbarium specimens (now missing) used in the identification of vernacular names. The collection describes the use of 65 species from 27 genera. The timing of its collection coincided with not only a national awakening and recently obtained high level of literacy but also the activation of civil society, people’s awareness of the need to collect folklore, the voluntary willingness of newspapers to provide publishing space and later to collect data, and the use of a survey method focusing on a narrow topic. While Ostrov’s only means of communication with the public was through newspapers, today, with electronic options, social media can also be used

Local ecological knowledge and folk medicine in historical Estonia, Livonia, Courland and Galicia in Northeastern Europe, 1805-1905

Background: Historical ethnobotanical data can provide valuable information about past human-nature relationships as well as serve as a basis for diachronic analysis. This data note aims to present a dataset which documented medicinal plant uses, mentioned in a selection of German-language sources from the 19 th century covering the historical regions of Estonia, Livonia, Courland, and Galicia. Methods: Data was mainly entered by systematic manual search in various ethnobotanical historical German-language works focused on the medicinal use of plants. Data about plant and non-plant constituents, their usage, the mode of administration, used plant parts, and their German and local names was extracted and collected into a database in the form of Use Reports

Re-written narrative: transformation of the image of Ivan-chaj in Eastern Europe

The aim of this study was to understand the role of viral narratives and the involvement of social media into the invention of tradition. We took as an example the recently highly promoted Ivan-chaj, a tea made from the fermented leaves of willowherb, a plant little known and used in Europe until a few years ago. Relying on a wide variety of sources circulating on the Internet (videos, various texts and visuals) and robust empirical field research results, we used mixed methods to analyze this specific case in order to understand if people adopt new teachings and if their acceptance leads to practical output. The results showed that the new teachings spread quickly, supported by narratives based on a wide variety of interaction points that viralized the message, also causing an economic impact. It is clear that the change of status and the economic success that Ivan-chaj now enjoys is due to the virality of the narrative, which has reshaped the image of Ivan-chaj from an "outcast" imitation and tea substitute into the national healthy drink. Having appeared in Russia, mostly as a Russian cultural marker, the narrative went viral and spread beyond its borders where neighbors have tried in turn to embrace Ivan-chaj as their own cultural marker by proclaiming it a local tradition. Indeed, narratives regarding Ivan-chaj spread easily in countries sharing some linguistic, historical and/or cultural elements with Russia (via the nexus of the Soviet Union)

Language of administration as a border: Wild food plants used by setos and russians in pechorsky district of pskov oblast, NW Russia

Socio-economic changes impact local ethnobotanical knowledge as much as the ecological ones. During an ethnobotanical field study in 2018–2019, we interviewed 25 Setos and 38 Russians in the Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast to document changes in wild plant use within the last 70 years according to the current and remembered practices. Of the 71 botanical taxa reported, the most popular were Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Vaccinium oxycoccos, Vaccinium myrtillus, Betula spp., and Rumex acetosa. The obtained data was compared with that of 37 Setos and 35 Estonians interviewed at the same time on the other side of the border. Our data revealed a substantial level of homogeneity within the plants used by three or more people with 30 of 56 plants overlapping across all four groups. However, Seto groups are ethnobotanically closer to the dominant ethnic groups immediately surrounding them than they are to Setos across the border. Further study of minor ethnic groups in a post-Soviet context is needed, paying attention to knowledge transmission patterns

Tailoring of motional states in double-well potentials by time-dependent processes

We show that the vibrational state tailoring method developed for molecular systems can be applied for cold atoms in optical lattices. The original method is based on a three-level model interacting with two strong laser pulses in a counterintuitive sequence [M. Rodriguez et al., Phys. Rev. A 62, 053413 (2000)]. Here we outline the conditions for achieving similar dynamics with single time-dependent potential surfaces. It is shown that guided switching between diabatic and adiabatic evolution has an essential role in this system. We also show that efficient and precise tailoring of motional states in optical lattices can be achieved, for instance, simply by superimposing two lattices and moving them with respect to each other.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, 25 references; accepted to PRA; v2: minor explanatory remarks added & typos correcte

Diverse in Local, Overlapping in Official Medical Botany: Critical Analysis of Medicinal Plant Records from the Historic Regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe, 1829–1895

Works on historical ethnobotany can help shed light on past plant uses and humankind’s relationships with the environment. We analyzed medicinal plant uses from the historical regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe based on three studies published within the 19th century by medical doctors researching local ethnomedicine. The sources were manually searched, and information extracted and entered into a database. In total, there were 603 detailed reports of medicinal plant use, which refer to 219 taxa belonging to 69 families and one unidentified local taxon. Dominant families were Asteraceae (14%), Solanaceae (7%), Rosaceae (6%), and Apiaceae (5%). The majority of use reports were attributed to the treatment of four disease categories: digestive (24%), skin (22%), respiratory (11%), and general (11%). The small overlapping portion (14 taxa mentioned by all three authors and another 27 taxa named by two authors) contained a high proportion of taxa (46%) mentioned in Dioscorides, which were widespread during that period in scholarly practice. Despite the shared flora, geographical vicinity, and culturally similar backgrounds, the medicinal use of plants in historical Courland and Livonia showed high biocultural diversity and reliance on wild taxa. We encourage researchers to study and re-evaluate the historical ethnobotanical literature and provide some suggestions on how to do this effectively