Plasmodial slime moulds (myxomycetes) in Swedish and Nordic folk biology.

Background: Folk biology commonly contains knowledge of many more taxa than those of immediate economic importance. Species with little or no practical use are, however, often overlooked by ethnobiological research. An example are a few Myxomycetes taxa which played an important role in the folk biology and beliefs of pre-industrial Sweden and adjacent Nordic countries, Denmark, Norway and Finland.

From Supernatural to Ornamental: Black Elder ( L., Family Adoxaceae) in Sweden.

Black elder, , is a non-native but now partly naturalized shrub in Sweden; it has been cultivated here at least since the Middle Ages. Previously, this plant was associated with a supernatural being to whom sacrifices were made, and its fruits were used in folk medicine and wood for fuel and crafts. Traditional economic uses vanished with industrialization and urbanization and black elder was mostly planted as an ornamental shrub in urban parks.

Making the most of scarce biological resources in the desert: Loptuq material culture in Eastern Turkestan around 1900.

Background: Most fisher-gatherer communities we know of utilized a limited number of natural resources for their livelihood. The Turkic-speaking Loptuq (exonym Loplik, Loplyk) in the Lower Tarim River basin, Taklamakan desert, Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang), were no exception. Their habitat, the Lop Nor marsh and lake area, was surrounded by desert and very poor in plant species; the Loptuq had to make the most of a handful of available biological resources for housing, furniture, clothing and fabric, fishnets and traps, tools and other equipment.

"Cow Healers Use It for Both Horses and Cattle": The Rise and Fall of the Ethnoveterinary Use of (L.) Koch (fam. Apiaceae) in Sweden.

Masterwort, (L.) Koch, is an Apiaceae species originally native to the mountain areas of central and southern Europe. Written sources show that it was used in northern Europe.

Traditional sports and games among the Sámi people in Northern Fennoscandia (Sápmi): an ethnobiological perspective.

Introduction: Modern sports equipment is nowadays manufactured industrially according to globally accepted and standardized models, but traditionally tools for play and games were prepared from materials found in the local environment. The objective of this article is to investigate various aspects of Sámi local knowledge about organisms used for their material culture of traditional sports and games in northern Fennoscandia (Sápmi). What functions did the surrounding biota have in the production of equipment used in sports and games?

Methods: A qualitative method was used; the ethnographic literature and travel narratives have been analyzed particularly for descriptions and notes on traditional games, toys, and sports.

Traditional uses and practices of edible cultivated Allium species (fam. Amaryllidaceae) in Sweden.

Background: While the utilitarian crops grown in vicarage gardens in pre-industrial Sweden have been fairly well documented, our knowledge of plants cultivated for food among the peasants and crofters is limited. Nevertheless, garden vegetables and herbs played a much more important role in the diet of the rural population from a nutritional point of view than, say, wild plants, at least in the southern part of the country. This study aims to explore the importance of edible cultivated onions, Allium, and their various cultivars and old landraces that were once-and in some cases still are-grown in home gardens.

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.

Ethnoichthyology of freshwater fish in Europe: a review of vanishing traditional fisheries and their cultural significance in changing landscapes from the later medieval period with a focus on northern Europe.

Background: Fishing is probably one of the oldest economic activities in the history of humankind. Lakes, rivers and streams in Europe are important elements in the European landscape with a rich diversity of fish and other aquatic organisms. Artisanal fisheries have therefore been of great importance for the provision of food, but also animal feed, medicine, fertilizer and other needs.

"It may also have prevented churchgoers from falling asleep": southernwood, Artemisia abrotanum L. (fam. Asteraceae), in the church bouquet, and its contemporary presence as a heritage plant in Sweden.

Introduction: Southernwood, Artemisia abrotanum L., is a plant that has been cultivated for centuries. Most probable is that it has its origin in the eastern Mediterranean area.

Ant schnapps for health and pleasure: the use of Formica rufa L. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) to flavour aquavit.

Background: The relationship between humans and insects goes long back and is important. Insects provide a multitude of ecosystem services for humans, e g. by pollinating crops and decomposing matter.

Mushroom hunting and consumption in twenty-first century post-industrial Sweden.

Background: The pre-industrial diet of the Swedish peasantry did not include mushrooms. In the 1830s, some academic mycologists started information campaigns to teach people about edible mushrooms. This propaganda met with sturdy resistance from rural people.

From medicinal plant to noxious weed: Bryonia alba L. (Cucurbitaceae) in northern and eastern Europe.

Introduction: White bryony, Bryonia alba L., is a relatively little known plant in the history of folk medicine and folk botany in eastern and northern Europe. The main aim of this article is to bring together data about Bryonia alba and to summarise its cultural history and folk botanical importance in eastern and northern Europe.

The bear in Eurasian plant names: motivations and models.

Ethnolinguistic studies are important for understanding an ethnic group's ideas on the world, expressed in its language. Comparing corresponding aspects of such knowledge might help clarify problems of origin for certain concepts and words, e.g.

Folk knowledge of invertebrates in Central Europe - folk taxonomy, nomenclature, medicinal and other uses, folklore, and nature conservation.

Background: There is scarce information about European folk knowledge of wild invertebrate fauna. We have documented such folk knowledge in three regions, in Romania, Slovakia and Croatia. We provide a list of folk taxa, and discuss folk biological classification and nomenclature, salient features, uses, related proverbs and sayings, and conservation.

Ræstur fiskur: air-dried fermented fish the Faroese way.

Background: Fish has played an important role in the diet of the population of the mid-Atlantic Faroe Islands. Dried and fermented fish in particular have been an essential storable protein source in an economy where weather conditions and seasonal fluctuations affect the availability of food. For generations the islanders have prepared ræstur fiskur, a home-made air-dried and fermented fish dish made of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.

Encounters with fierce dogs and itchy bedbugs: why my first field work failed.

This essay, which is the fifth in the series "Recollections, Reflections, and Revelations: Personal Experiences in Ethnobiology", is a personal reminiscence by the researcher on his first field experience in Turkey in the late 1970s, which was a failure from an ethnobiological point of view but a success for a social scientist pursuing Turkic studies. The author later returned to ethnobiology during subsequent fieldwork on the Faroes.

Plants used for making recreational tea in Europe: a review based on specific research sites.

This paper is a review of local plants used in water infusions as aromatic and refreshing hot beverages (recreational tea) consumed in food-related settings in Europe, and not for specific medicinal purposes. The reviewed 29 areas are located across Europe, covering the post-Soviet countries, eastern and Mediterranean Europe. Altogether, 142 taxa belonging to 99 genera and 40 families were reported.

Uninvited guests: traditional insect repellents in Estonia used against the clothes moth Tineola bisselliella, human flea Pulex irritons and bedbug Cimex lectularius.

Extensive folklore records from pre-modern Estonia give us an excellent opportunity to study a variety of local plant knowledge and plant use among the peasantry in various parts of the country. One important biocultural domain where plant knowledge has been crucial was in the various methods of combating different ectoparasites that cohabited and coexisted with humans and their domestic animals. Some of these methods were widely known (world-wide, Eurasia, Europe, Baltic Rim), while others were more local.