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What are those plants that we eat ? Where are they grown ? Since when ? How can we recognize them ? Fruits and vegetables, oil plants, cereals, tubers, aromatic plants, spices, components of industrial additives…, 707 species of food plants from the entire world, that can be bought on markets or collected in the wild, are described in this encyclopedia. Most species are illustrated with 1700 original drawings. Furthermore, for the first time, 350 maps illustrate the origin and diffusion of 557 species.
From the page Encyclopédie des plantes alimentaires, you have access on Pl@ntUse to a thematic index, errata and complements, because new species everyday appear on our markets.
- Chauvet, Michel, 2018. Encyclopédie des plantes alimentaires. Paris, Belin. 880 p., 1000 dessins couleur, 700 dessins au trait, 350 cartes. 69 €.
8 October 2018
Let us transform a constraint into an opportunity!
In this lockdown period, let us take advantage to realize things we had no time to do previously. Let us sort our photos, collaborate to Wikipedia and above all to Pl@ntUse. Pl@ntUse has great ambitions but limited manpower. You will find on this page some examples of useful tasks.
If you feel reluctant with the Mediawiki software, no problem. I can help you step by step. By doing so, you will get out of the prevailing pessimism, and participate to the collaborative building of a tool useful to everybody. Don't hesitate, as you have time now!
2 April 2020
Curiosa
- Why is seringat the French name of Philadelphus coronarius, whereas lilac bears the name Syringa ? My perplexity doubled when I read that this name came from the use of hollow branchlets to make… seringes ! This was the beginning of a long etymological search, that we detail in our Etymological dictionary. But this quest ended up in an enigma.
Renaissance botanists used to group several plants with frangrant flowers under the name Syringa. For instance, Bauhin in his Pinax (1623) distinguishes Syringa cærulea, which is lilac, Syringa vulgaris; Syringa alba, which is seringat (mock orange), Philadelphus coronarius; and Syringa Arabica foliis mali arantii, which is sambac, Jasminum sambac. It seems in fact that the name Syringa was first applied to the mock orange, but Linnaeus decided another way. This answers the first question.
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As to the second question, you must know that the etymon of medieval Latin syringa is Greek σῦριγξ, -ιγγος - surinx, - ingos, which meant in ancient Greek "flute" or "fistula". In medieval Latin, this "flute" or "pipe" came to designate a "seringe". But in fact, we must not understand our hypodermical or intravenous seringes. Every pipe through wich a liquid was pushed was called a syringa, which applies to seringes for rectum or uretra enema !
The object size fits indeed more, but it seems that this meaning is not the right one. Tabernaemontanus may give us the right explanation in 1625 in his Neuw Vollkommentlich Kreuterbuch : "the branchlets can be used as a whistle (or flute), by removing the marrow". This explanation is highly plausible. What remains is to check it experimentally. If you have a lilac or a mock orange in your garden, cut off a branchlet, scoop out the soft heart, and blow into it to see (or hear) the result. Give us then the answer on the ethnobotany forum of Tela Botanica.
What is Pl@ntUse?
Pl@ntuse is a collaborative space for exchange of information on useful plants and uses of plants. It is not intended to duplicate existing encyclopedias (including Wikipedia), but to offer additional features such as:
- On-line resources that you can reuse
- Portal towards relevant resources available on Internet
- Thematic introductions to literature or any subject of interest
- Species lists (legumes grown in France, world cereals...)
- Popular names or vernacular names
- Portrait galeries of cultivars (varieties)
- Old books and articles on useful plants
- Original publications
- Iconography
- Questions and answers
The working method
It is of course scalable and open for discussion. But the basic idea is not to produce consensus summaries. It is rather to provide reliable material to allow everyone to make his/her own synthesis. A priority is to upload the data sets that underlie the work, but are rarely published, forcing everyone to start from scratch.
Any kind of page may be created. Templates have been devised to create pages with a similar structure and with similar content. Such pages are easily accessible through categories or portals. If you intend to upload new types of information, please ask the administrators, who will help you create and use a new template.
As is customary in the scientific community, we mention the author of each contribution. However, most of the contributions may be corrected or updated, as far as they reach consensus. See Help:Authors of contributions
Each page is potentially available in English and French. By default, we are beginning with French, except for books written in English. You can collaborate by translating.
