Plant Technology of First Peoples in British Columbia (review)

Anyone interested in ethnographic, archeological, biogeographical, botanical, and economic aspects of people's relationship with the land, should read this book. Although technically a handbook providing clear and detailed botanical data, its incorporation of concepts involving people's use of plants make this volume more. It breaks new ground in that, unlike many ethnobiological studies that concentrate on food or medicine, this book addresses the understudied technological uses of plants, such as their use in the construction of houses, kitchen utensils, fishing gear, bedding and storage containers.

Nancy Turner's sources include published and unpublished material. For botanical descriptions and distributions, she relies mainly on published material with some personal observations. The majority of the ethnographic information, however, comes from personal interviews with older native Canadians, referred to in the book as the First Peoples of British Columbia. Turner's description of working with these people makes the reader feel connected not only to their plant knowledge, but to the people themselves.

The book is divided into two sections. The first part is a detailed introduction to the environment of British Columbia and its indigenous people. In this section, Turner goes on to explain the plants people used, their harvesting practices, material preparation and trade in products made from plants. Turner describes the differing topography and climates, and how these relate to plant distribution, resource availability and people's use of the vegetation. This leads into her discussion of different uses for the same plant depending on the relative location of people and plants to each other. The following ethnographic section focuses on the distribution and history of the various linguistic groups of people, with an illustrative chart of their names and dialects, and a map featuring each group's geographical location.

The book begins with a description of basic plant materials used, such as bark, leaves, roots, tree trunks, stems and flowers. Native Canadians craft these plant parts into various items: carved implements, containers, canoes, shelters, fire fuel, roofing, twine, rope, nets, baskets, bags, mats, clothing, bedding, floor covering, drying racks, storage vessels, paints, dyes, glues and soaps. In order for readers to understand the extent of the effort involved in utilizing these plants, Turner discusses the first phase of plant use, which is harvesting. Allowing the reader to hear the voices of the people with whom she spoke, Turner includes various words from the indigenous people's collecting songs, and even the entire prayer of a Kwakwaka'wakw woman to a cedar tree, before this woman collects the bark. The introduction ends with an overview about plant trading between different groups of people, giving a sense of how groups interact and transfer technology.

The corpus of the book assesses the major plant groups: algae, lichens, fungi, mosses, ferns, conifers, and angiosperms. She lists the plants alphabetically by scientific name, followed by common names. A clear color photograph of each plant, and sometimes another photo of a finished article made from that plant, accompanies each description. These visuals allow the reader to see the plant for identification purposes, and also to appreciate each plant's beauty and the products people make from this flora. A glossary follows so that readers unfamiliar with botanical terms will have little difficulty navigating this book.

This work is not only a useful handbook of plants and uses. Through the introduction and colorful photographs, it creates a sense of excitement about ethnobiology, even for those unfamiliar with the field. It is an exceptionally readable volume, stressing common names rather than scientific ones, thereby making it attractive to lay readers and professionals alike. Although the book is regionally specific to British Columbia, the discussion of how people use certain kinds of plants, especially for articles such as baskets, can apply to ethnobotanical practices throughout the world.

If one is looking for a more holistic understanding of plant use, such as details about the collecting, preparation and...