Ingvar Svanberg

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. The most important families for making herbal tea in all research areas were Lamiaceae and Asteraceae, while Rosaceae was popular only in eastern and central Europe. With regards to botanical genera, the dominant taxa included Mentha, Tilia, Thymus, Origanum, Rubus and Matricaria. The clear favorite was Origanum vulgare L., mentioned in 61% of the regions. Regionally, other important taxa included Rubus idaeus L. in eastern Europe, Chamaemelum nobile (L.) All. in southern Europe and Rosa canina L. in central Europe. Future research on the pharmacological, nutritional and chemical properties of the plants most frequently used in the tea-making process is essential to ensure their safety and appropriateness for daily consumption. Moreover, regional studies dedicated to the study of local plants used for making recreational tea are important to improve our understanding of their selection criteria, cultural importance and perceived properties in Europe and abroad.

China’s Last Nomads : The History and Culture of China’s Kazaks

This study, based on Chinese publications and archival materials as well as on recent fieldwork, provides an up-to-date treatment of Kazak history and culture, emphasizing the Kazaks in 20th-century China and, in particular, their status today as one of Chinas minority nationalities.

Islam outside the Arab world

Somalia Nigeria Senegal Tanzania Southern Africa Turkey Turkic Central Asia Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan China South Asia Indonesia and Malaysia Australia and New Zealand Bosnia and Herzegovina Germany and Austria France Britain the Nordic Countries Russia and Transcaucasia North America the Caribbean and Latin America.

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

Abstract 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. Here we discuss ways of reducing clothes moths Tineola bisselliella (Hummel) (Lepidoptera: Tineidae), human fleas Pulex irritons L. (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae) and bedbugs Cimex lectularius L. (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) with the help of plants. Various taxa used as traditional repellents have been identified. The use of plants as repellents and their toxic principles are also discussed from a comparative perspective.

Marsh woundwort, Stachys palustris L. (Lamiaceae): an overlooked food plant

The aim of this article is to study the geographical distribution and historical patterns of use of a little known root crop native to Europe—marsh woundwort Stachys palustris L. The species grows in wet grasslands and arable fields. It produces edible tubers. Both ethnographic literature and archival sources were searched. Seventeen reliable references concerning the consumption of S. palustris in southern and south–eastern Poland were found. The tubers were usually dried and powdered, and then added to soups or to bread dough. They were also eaten as raw snacks. The plant was used mainly during food shortages in spring, until the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century, and later only as an occasional raw snack until the 1970s. Marsh woundwort was also eaten in western Ukraine (one reference). There are many references to the edibility of marsh woundwort in the eighteenth and nineteenth century European economic botany literature, particularly in Sweden and Great Britain. These publications tried to popularize the use of S. palustris as food. However, there is no firm evidence from these countries that marsh woundwort was used as food there. Marsh woundwort was also used, throughout northern and central Europe, as pig fodder and as a medicinal plant, particularly for healing wounds. Further studies on the nutritive value of this forgotten crop should be undertaken, particularly that there is little knowledge of the chemical composition of both marsh woundwort and its Asian relative Stachys affinis widely cultivated in China as a vegetable.

BLACK SLUGS (Arion ater) AS GREASE: A CASE STUDY OF TECHNICAL USE OF GASTROPODS IN PRE-INDUSTRIAL SWEDEN

ABSTRACT Black slug (Arion ater L.) is a common gastropod in forested areas of Sweden. In pre-industrial Swedish society and up to the beginning of the 20th century, slugs were used as a regular or temporary source for grease to lubricate wooden axle-trees. Although the custom is mentioned in written records from the 18th century, it is an otherwise almost undocumented practice. However, through an advertisement in a popular nationwide radio program, it was possible to record contemporary oral statements about this practice from a few decades ago. It seems to have been a widespread practice to substitute or improve the tar as cart grease with slugs in the older days. These animals, a freely available resource for everyone, were often gathered by children. The practice survived as long as the wooden carts and wagons were used, for example, in transporting hay. The study demonstrates that it is still possible to gather information about older practices in highly modernized societies, utilizing mass media as a way to reach informants.

GATHERING FOOD FROM RODENT NESTS IN SIBERIA

Abstract This historical study analyzes the little known practice of gathering food resources from rodent stores in Siberia, with comparative perspectives from northern Europe and North America. Until the 19th century, taking roots, tubers, corms, bulbs, seeds and nuts from rodent food stores was a widespread practice by several ethnic groups in Siberia to supplement their diets. Rodents in northern areas, for example the root vole (Microtus oeconomus), depend on a constant food supply and therefore collect large quantities of plants in their underground caches. Often, but not only during colder seasons, Siberian peoples collected these high-quality plant parts from the voles. Some plundered the stores completely, but others left food or other objects for the animals so that they would survive and gather more the following year. In the circumpolar area ceremonies were held, presenting the rodents with gifts that were valued in human society.

Human usage of mermaid's glove sponge (Isodictya palmata) on the Faroes

There is very little documentation on the economic importance of locally available marine sponges (Porifera) in north-western Europe. From Iceland and the Faroe Islands there are records of naming ...

Population genetic structure of crucian carp (Carassius carassius) in man-made ponds and wild populations in Sweden

Although once popular prior to the last century, the aquaculture of crucian carp Carassius carassius (L. 1758) in Sweden gradually fell from favour. This is the first genetic comparison of crucian carp from historic man-made ponds in the Scandinavian Peninsula. The aim was to identify old populations without admixture and to compare the relationship of pond populations from different provinces in Sweden. In total, nine microsatellite loci from 234 individuals from 20 locations in varied parts of Sweden were analysed. The genetic distances of crucian carp populations indicated that the populations in the southernmost province of Sweden, Scania, shared a common history. A pond population in the province Småland also showed a common inheritance with this group. In the province Uppland, further north in Sweden, the population genetic distances suggested a much more complex history of crucian carp distributions in the ponds. The data showed that there are some ponds with potentially old populations without admixture, but also that several ponds might have been stocked with fish from many sources.

Stone loach in Stockholm, Sweden, and royal fish-ponds in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

The stone loach (Barbatula barbatula) occurs in three main areas in Sweden. In the north, it is found in Lapland in the River Tornealven. In the south, it is found in Skane. There are also two populations near the cities of Stockholm and Nykoping. New data suggest that these two populations originate from fish that were kept in ponds. In the 1740s King Frederick I is said to have released stone loaches from German sources in Lake Malaren, but this cannot explain its occurrence in Igelbacken near Stockholm. There is also reason to believe that it was kept in ponds at the royal castle Ulriksdal in the mid-eighteenth century. The fish was possibly imported from the kings native Germany, to be eaten as a delicacy. However, historical records tell of pond-keeping of stone loach by the Royal court in the Stockholm area during the 1680s.