Ethnobotany

Ethnobotanical studies involve the investigation of biocultural diversity and thus the interactions between plants and people. Foremost among these are the management of plant diversity by indigenous communities and the traditional use of medicinal plants, which are considered an important component of the world’s cultural heritage. Furthermore, this kind of knowledge plays a crucial role in various applied fields such as biodiversity conservation and primary health care.

Ongoing projects:

• People and plants in Southwest China
• Non-timber forest products and related conservation issues in Southwest China
• Continuum between ritual and medicinal plant use
• Ethnobotany in Switzerland - Traditional and contemporary use of (medicinal) plants

• Quality control of goji (fruits of Lycium barbarum L. and L. chinense Mill.): A value chain analysis perspective
  Yao, Ruyu; Heinrich, Michael; Wang, Zigui; Weckerle, Caroline S.
  JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY, 224 349-358; 10.1016/j.jep.2018.06.010 OCT 5 2018
• Quality Variation of Goji (Fruits of Lycium spp.) in China: A Comparative Morphological and Metabolomic Analysis 
  Yao, Ruyu; Heinrich, Michael; Zou, Yuanfeng; et al. 
  FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY, 9: FEB 26 2018 Article (Details)
• The genus Lycium as food and medicine: A botanical, ethnobotanical and historical review 
  Yao, Ruyu; Heinrich, Michael; Weckerle, Caroline S. 
  JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY, 212: 50-66 10.1016/j.jep.2017.10.010 FEB 15 2018
• Recommended standards for conducting and reporting ethnopharmacological field studies 
  Weckerle, Caroline S.; de Boer, Hugo J.; Puri, Rajindra K.; et al. 
  JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY, 210: 125-132 10.1016/j.jep.2017.08.018 JAN 10 2018 Article (Details)
• Reverse ethnopharmacology and drug discovery 
  Leonti, Marco; Stafford, Gary; Dal Cero, Maja et al. 
  JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY, 198: 417-431 FEB 2017 Article (Details)
• PLANT NAMES AS TRACES OF THE PAST IN SHUILUO VALLEY, CHINA 
  Chirkova, Katia; Huber, Franz K.; Weckerle, Caroline S.; et al. 
  OURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY, 36 (1): 192-214 MAR 2016 Article (Details)

• Human plant interactions
• Local plant knowledge
• Incense analysis
• Chinese Medicine
• Taxonomy

• Human livelihoods and conservation 
• Human ecology
• Access and benefit sharing
• Phytochemistry
• Complementary medicine