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Glite Dictionary
ethnoflora

ethnoflora

9.9
Plants a cultural group traditionally uses and knows about, for example for food or medicine
  • noun
  • /ˌɛθnoʊˈflɔːrə/
  • Specialized
: etnoflora
  • The herbalist shared knowledge about the ethnoflora of the indigenous people, including the plants they traditionally cultivated for medicine.

Examples

  • Religious leaders retained elements of their ethnoflora by importing Old World species and by using accidentally introduced weeds.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Ultimately, by incorporating Old and New World species into their ethnoflora, practitioners of the faith retained a measure of their religious power in the emerging Afro-Brazilian community.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Widely dispersed now, akoko is counted among the ethnoflora of most Bahian terreiros.

    Academic text (1990)

  • By participating in preliminary initiation rites for one of the terreiros, I was able to observe plant-use ceremonies as well as to overcome some reluctance exhibited by practitioners to discuss their ethnoflora.

    Academic text (1990)

  • During the festival, we learned about the ethnoflora of the region, which included unique plants used in local rituals and cooking.

  • She studied the ethnoflora of her ancestors to better understand their cultural practices surrounding traditional plant use.

Surface Forms

ethnoflora singular
ethnofloras plural

Morphology

ethnoflora = flora (semi-transparent) = ethno + flora

The combining form 'ethno-' clearly modifies 'flora' to indicate a group's plant life, but 'ethno-' is a bound, specialized form and the compound is technical.

Etymology

Ethnoflora joins ethno- meaning 'people', the same root as ethnic, and flora meaning 'plants', as in 'flora and fauna'. So ethnoflora refers to the plants a particular group of people use and the knowledge they have about them.