Renata Sõukand

Publications (21) View all

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  Available from: Renata Sõukand

  Article: Wild plants eaten in childhood: a retrospective of Estonia in the 1970s–1990s

  Raivo Kalle, Renata Sõukand
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  ABSTRACT: In this ethnobotanical study, the authors provide the first quantitative analysis of the use of wild edible plants in Estonia, describing the domains and assessing the food importance of different species. The information was collected using free-listing written questionnaires and concerned plants used by the respondents in their childhood. As part of a major study, this article covers the responses of professionals with some botanical education at vocational or university level, to ensure the greatest possible reliability without using voucher specimens. Fifty-eight respondents provided information on the use of 137 plant taxa, corresponding to approximately 6% of the native and naturalized vascular plants of Estonia. According to use frequency, the most typical wild food plant of Estonia is a fruit, eaten raw as a snack. The results clearly signal that the majority of famine and food shortage plants had already been forgotten by the end of the 20 th century, but new plants have been introduced as green vegetables for making salads. Despite changes in the nomenclature of the plants, the use of wild food plants in Estonia was still thriving at the turn of the 20 th century, covering many domains already forgotten in urbanized modern Europe.
  Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 05/2013; 172:239-253. · 2.82 Impact Factor
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  Article: Complementary Treatment of the Common Cold and Flu with Medicinal Plants - Results from Two Samples of Pharmacy Customers in Estonia.

  Ain Raal, Daisy Volmer, Renata Sõukand, Sofia Hratkevitš, Raivo Kalle
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  ABSTRACT: The aim of the current survey was to investigate the complementary self-treatment of the common cold and flu with medicinal plants among pharmacy customers in Estonia. A multiple-choice questionnaire listing 10 plants and posing questions on the perceived characteristics of cold and flu, the effectiveness of plants, help-seeking behaviour, self-treatment and sources of information, was distributed to a sample of participants in two medium size pharmacies. The participants were pharmacy customers: 150 in Tallinn (mostly Russian speaking) and 150 in Kuressaare (mostly Estonian speaking). The mean number of plants used by participants was 4.1. Of the respondents, 69% self-treated the common cold and flu and 28% consulted with a general practitioner. In general, medicinal plants were considered effective in the treatment of the above-mentioned illnesses and 56% of the respondents had used exclusively medicinal plants or their combination with OTC medicines and other means of folk medicine for treatment. The use of medicinal plants increased with age and was more frequent among female than male respondents. Among Estonian-speaking customers lime flowers, blackcurrant and camomile were more frequently used, and among Russian speaking customers raspberry and lemon fruits. Regardless of some statistically significant differences in preferred species among different age, education, sex and nationality groups, the general attitude towards medicinal plants for self-treatment of the common cold and flu in Estonia was very favourable.
  PLoS ONE 01/2013; 8(3):e58642. · 4.09 Impact Factor
• Article: The use of teetaimed in Estonia, 1880s-1990s.

  Renata Sõukand, Raivo Kalle
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  ABSTRACT: This research contributes to a better understanding of the criteria used for the selection of plants for making beverages. Worldwide, not only the leaves of Camellia sinensis, but also various other plants are used for making tea. We argue that the selection of plants for making tea (in Estonian teetaimed) depends on specific features possessed by or attributed to the plants. 54 plant taxa and one lichen were identified as being used for making tea, based on the analysis of Estonian historical handwritten archival records on plant use for the period from 1887 to 1994. The influence of popular literature on the use of plants for making tea was also assessed. The suitability of a plant for making tea depends on a combination of factors like multifunctional use, mild taste and attributed medicinal properties. The variety of medicinal properties attributed to teetaimed in folk medicine allowed herbal tea drinking to be considered as mild disease prevention. Hence, the roots of the Estonian tea tradition lie in the medicinal use of the plants, not oriental ceremonial tea drinking.
  Appetite 07/2012; 59(2):523-30. · 2.59 Impact Factor
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  Article: Herbal landscape: the perception of the landscape as a source of medicinal plants.

  Renata Sõukand, Raivo Kalle
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  ABSTRACT: This contribution investigates the idea of herbal landscape, associated with a personal perception of landscape as a source of materia medica. The herbal landscape can be divided into specific smaller units according to several natural and cultural boundaries. This explains why the original knowledge of plants gleaned by one set of inhabitants may be clearly distinguished from that of close neighbors. The natural boundaries are, for example, the habitat (community) and geographical range limit of plants. Cultural boundaries, for example, constitute the cultural space that influences people, the peculiarity of a given language, and the availability of education, popular books and other media regarding plant use. Nevertheless, Estonian natural herbal culture can be viewed as one large-scale herbal landscape.
  01/2010; 1464(3):207-226.
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  Article: Sissevaade eestlaste ravimtaimede tundmise mitmekesisusse

  Kalle Raivo, Sõukand Renata
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  ABSTRACT: The article probes the knowledge of Estonians in terms of medicinal plants, proceeding from the origin of the relevant knowledge. We have differentiated local and global knowledge. The concept of locality is closely related to indigenous plants and the knowledge thereof within the community. It is intrinsic of the local knowledge to combine tworeciprocal criteria: first, the plant name is characteristic of a particular region (village, former parish, etc.), or, if there is no plant name, there is a recognisable description of the plant; secondly, unique and characteristic use of plants in a particular region. Global herbal folklore is associated with non-native and cultivated species, and can be recognised from among the relevant data according to the specific naming and intrinsic use of non-native plants, or by transferring the name and use of the alien plant to thelocal species, etc.In most cases, the introduced species do not have a folkloric name and are known only by way of the naming given by botanists. Pharmacies and chemist’s are the first major and recognisable institutions affecting herbal folklore, as the names of the solddrugs coincided with the names of species. The more thorough analysis focuses on how widespread in oral tradition is the name of the drug made of the roots of the wild rose. Likewise, diverse herbal knowledge has also been influenced by popular science booksin Estonian, published for nearly 340 years, and is currently affected by the media and the relevant influential figures presented therein. A number of species, which used to be common, have become rare during recent decades and a similar tendency can also benoted in herbal folklore.
  Mäetagused. Hüperajakiri. 01/2010;