Podophyllum peltatum and observations on the Creek and Cherokee Indians: William Bartram's preservation of Native American pharmacology.

Full Abstract

Historians have examined the significant contributions John and William Bartram made to 18th- and 19th-century knowledge of indigenous North American flora. However, the Bartrams' contribution to medicinal botanical knowledge, particularly William Bartram's compilation of Indians' knowledge on the preparation and use of medicinal botanicals, is not well-known. In addition, while William Bartram's contemporaries relied on his accounts of medicinal botanicals, they rarely acknowledged Bartram or Indians in their own works. Contemporaries plagiarized Bartram's writings and used his exquisite illustrations to ornament their own publications. This paper reconstructs William Bartram's careful collection and recording of medicinal botanical knowledge that became part of late 18th- and early 19th-century American pharmacology, as well as provides evidence for 54 Bartram-identified indigenous species and the pirating of William Bartram's work by contemporaries.

Author information

Author/s: Ray, Laura E (LE);

Affiliation: Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, OH, USA. laura.ray(-atsign-)law.csuohio.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Biography; Historical Article; Journal Article

Journal: The Yale journal of biology and medicine (Yale J Biol Med), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Mar; vol 82 (issue 1) : pp 25-36

Dates: Created 2009/03/27; Completed 2009/05/05; Revised 2009/05/14;

PMID: 19325943, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 5/14/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MeSH Headings (categories) shown below.

Note: Bold headings indicate primary MeSH headings or qualifiers.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.

See a larger map of 100+ related articles.