Bradey Bennett

Florida International University | FIU · Department of Biological Sciences

Until recently, luthiers have been conservative in their wood choices for guitars and other chordophones. Most soundboards (tops) were made from American or European spruces. Rosewood and, less frequently, mahogany, maple, and koa, were used for backs and sides. Spanish cedar and mahogany were the preferred species for necks; ebony or rosewood for...

Daniel F. Austin (1943-2015) was a leading authority on Convolvulaceae and especially the Ipomoea batatas complex, which includes the sweet potato and its relatives. He also published extensively on the useful plants of Florida. However, he never examined sweet potato and its importance to Florida’s Native American populations or its early settlers...

Cultures throughout the world give plants to their dogs in order to improve hunting success. These practices are best developed in lowland Ecuador and Peru. There is no experimental evidence for the efficacy of these practices nor critical reviews that consider possible pharmacological effects on dogs based on the chemistry of the ethnoverterinary...

Dan Austin, long-serving book review editor for Economic Botany, is a name well known to most members of the Society (Fig. 1). Yet, few current members have ever met him. Dan served on the SEB council from 1993 to 1996. He participated in the 1993 (Miami) annual meeting, accepting my request to speak in the “Invading Species—Their Threat and Potent...

It has been estimated that the planet harbors up to 400,000 species of plants (Gaston 2010). Somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 of these plants may be edible by people (SEB n.d.; FAO 1985). Of these, 7,000 (FAO n.d.) to 12,000 (Kunkel 1984) have been used as food by people somewhere at some time. Perhaps 3,000 are still harvested with some regular...

The word garden, while diverse in its application, is related to the word paradise. Both refer to enclosed places where plants grow. The botanic garden has a more precise meaning, referring to plant collections designed for display, research, and education. Botanic gardens have been venues for university education for more than five centuries. Toda...

It has been estimated that the planet harbors up to 400,000 species of plants (Gaston 2010). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations suggests that 50,000 of these plants are edible by people (FAO 1985). The Society for Economic Botany (n.d.) puts the number at 30,000. Of these, 7,000 (FAO n.d.) to over 12,000 (Kunkel 1984) have...

Acute gastrointestinal illness is a common, life-threatening complication for rural villagers in developing countries such as Turkey. Our study identifies and describes the classification schemes surrounding acute gastrointestinal illness, or diarrhea, and its folk treatments among Central Anatolian villagers. We conducted informal small group inte...

The fruits of saw palmetto have been used for the treatment of a variety of urinary and reproductive system problems. In this study we investigated whether the fruit extracts affect in vitro adipogenesis. Saw palmetto ethanol extract inhibited the lipid droplet accumulation by induction media in a dose-dependent manner, and it also attenuated the p...

Sapodilla [Manilkara zapota (L.) P. Royen] has been long cultivated for its high quality fruit and latex which is used to make chicle (chewing gum). Tasting similarly to a pear doused in brown sugar, it is a highly esteemed fruit in tropical areas. With origins in Central America and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the sapodilla is also cultivated in t...

Extracts of saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) fruits are used widely in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). This study presents an analysis of the fatty acid content of saw palmetto fruits from both the yellow-green and the less-distributed waxy blue-green forms growing in the Rockdale Pineland Preserve in Miami-Dade County, Florida. E...

Morbidity and mortality estimates due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections continue to rise. Therapeutic options are limited by antibiotic resistance. Anti-pathogenic compounds, which inhibit quorum sensing (QS) pathways, may be a useful alternative to antibiotics. Staphylococcal QS is encoded by the AGR locus and is res...

The science of ethnobotany is reviewed in light of its multi-disciplinary contributions to natural product research for the development of pharmaceuticals and pharmacological tools. Some of the issues reviewed involve ethical and cultural perspectives of healthcare and medicinal plants. While these are not usually part of the discussion of pharmaco...

Melaleuca was first imported into the United States during 1886, and introduction records suggest that at least six sources have contributed to extant populations in Florida. Allozyme analyses found substantial genetic variation within and among populations, contributing to geographic structuring of melaleuca in southern Florida. The presence and d...

During the century following its initial introduction in 1886, the Australian tree Melaleuca quinquenervia (Myrtaceae) dispersed from a few introduction points to occupy over 200,000ha, primarily in historic Everglades wetlands of southern Florida. Cellulose acetate gel electrophoresis (CAGE) was used to investigate the allozyme diversity and popul...

The Australian punk tree Melaleuca quinquenervia is a notorious invasive weed that threatens the biological integrity of Florida's Everglades ecosystems. A comprehensive plan initiated to manage M. quinquenervia includes an ambitious biological control program, and as part of this program we investigated the origins and invasion history of M. quinq...

Essential oils of fresh plant parts of Bidens pilosa var. minor (Bl.), Bidens alba (L.) DC.(Tribus Heliantheae, Asteraceae) and Flaveria linearis Lag. (Tribus Helenieae, Asteraceae) were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC, GC/MS and HPLC.Forty-three compounds were identified in the oils of B. pilosa var. minor and B. alba, which repre...

Plants are the primary source of medicine for most of the world. The most fundamental step in the scientific study of medicinal plants is establishing their botanical identity. Many studies lack voucher specimens, which serve as permanent records of scientific investigations. This omission makes positive identification impossible and hinders reprod...

One-third of botanical remedies from southern Italy are used to treat skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI). Staphylococcus aureus, a common cause of SSTI, has generated increasing concern due to drug resistance. Many plants possess antimicrobial agents and provide effective remedies for SSTI. Our aim was to investigate plants from different ethnob...

Botanical pharmacopoeias are non-random subsets of floras, with some taxonomic groups over- or under-represented. Moerman [Moerman, D.E., 1979. Symbols and selectivity: a statistical analysis of Native American medical ethnobotany, Journal of Ethnopharmacology 1, 111-119] introduced linear regression/residual analysis to examine these patterns. How...

Dermatological remedies make up at least one-third of the traditional pharmacopoeia in southern Italy. The identification of folk remedies for the skin is important both for the preservation of traditional medical knowledge and in the search for novel antimicrobial agents in the treatment of skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI). Our goal is to doc...

Background: Dermatological remedies make up at least one-third of the traditional pharmacopoeia in southern Italy. The identification of folk remedies for the skin is important both for the preservation of traditional medical knowledge and in the search for novel antimicrobial agents in the treatment of skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI). Our go...

The Doctrine of Signatures (DOS) is found throughout the world. Most scholars dismiss it as a “primitive” or “prescientific” idea. Despite its long history, the doctrine has had little critical review. A careful evaluation of signatures suggests four things. (1) There is no evidence that morphological plant signatures ever led to the discovery of m...

A group of 44 people from ethnobotany and associated disciplines participated in an Ethnobotanical Summit at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Kaua‘i on 27-30 January 2007. Considering the grave environmental crisis facing the world today, the loss of biodiversity and the loss of culture, the group decided to issue a statement to stress the...

Bacterial intercellular communication, or quorum sensing (QS), controls the pathogenesis of many medically important organisms. Anti-QS compounds are known to exist in marine algae and have the ability to attenuate bacterial pathogenicity. We hypothesized that terrestrial plants traditionally used as medicines may also produce anti-QS compounds. To...

Botánicas, or herbal shops that cater to ethnic populations, are common in culturally diverse southern Florida. One of the most frequently found plants in these botánicas is Pluchea carolinensis. This small shrub in the Asteraceae is a common species in disturbed sites in the region, especially in back mangrove habitats. The binomial P. symphytifol...

2006 Botánicas, or herbal shops that cater to ethnic populations, are common in culturally diverse southern Florida. One of the most frequently found plants in these botánicas isPluchea carolinensis. This small shrub in the Asteraceae is a common species in disturbed sites in the region, especially in back mangrove habitats. The binomialP. symphyti...

There is more interest in ethnobotany today, than at any time in the discipline’s history. Ethnobotany, however, suffers from many deficiencies, especially the lack of research support, educational opportunities, and a theoretical basis. Ethnobotanists should expand the definition of ethnobotany to include all plant-people interactions, not just th...

Indigenous people of southeastern North America drank cassina, a stimulant and emetic decoction that the colonial British termed “black drink.” Though most authors citeIlex vomitoria Ait. as the botanical source of cassina, confusion persists because some researchers identify the source asI. cassine L. To clarify the link between plant and product,...

Ethnobiology is the scientific study of dynamic relationships among peoples, biota, and environments. Ethnobiology is multidisciplinary; the Ethnobiology Working Group (see insert) includes representatives from systematics, population biology, ecology, mathematical biology, cultural anthropology, ethnography, archaeology, geography, pharmacology, n...

Conservationists and environmental economists have promoted the extraction of non–timber forest products (NTFP) as an alternative to forest conversion and as a means to benefit forest peoples. This article discusses the development of NTFP economic analyses and some economic, biological and socio–cultural constraints on the use of forest resources...

The intellectual property rights debate focuses on the flow of germplasm from developing tropical countries to developed temperate nations. Few investigators have addressed the converse. We discuss the abundance and importance of introduced plants in pharmacopoeias of northern South America. Introduced species commonly are employed as medicines thr...

Saw palmetto [Serenoa repens (Bartr.) Small] is the most common native palm in the U.S. and, possibly, the most useful. Cattle and wildlife, especially black bears and white-tailed deer, consume the fruits. The flowers are a favorite nectar source for honey bees, and the sprawling, shrubby palm provides excellent cover for birds, reptiles, and smal...

Quijos Quichua collaborators identifiedOsteophloeum platyspermum andVirola duckei (Myristicaceae) as sources of a psychoactive sap. This is the first reported hallucinogenic use of Myristicaceae from Ecuador. Species in Malpighiaceae and Solanaceae are more common sources of hallucinogens, but older Quichua still employ these myristicaceous species...

Banisteriopsis caapi, Brugmansia suaveolens, andNicotiana tabacum are the principal hallucinogens used by the Shuar and related ethnic groups in Amazonian Ecuador and Peru. These three species are common hallucinogens throughout northwestern Amazonia.Banisteriopsis caapi (natem) is the hallucinogen most frequently employed by the Shuar. The Shuar d...

All of Ecuador’s indigenous Amazonian people use Carludovica palmata Ruíz & Pavón. The most frequent use is for roof thatching. Fibers from the petiole also are used to make baskets and to tie small timbers. The Shuar, Achuar and Quichua make mammal and fish traps from the petiole. The bases of unopened leaf buds and the fruits are edible. The buds...

In comparing the population structure of epiphytic and saxicolous Tillandsia species I found no significant differences between polycarpic species. Epiphytic T. ionochroma populations had a higher seedling:adult ratio than saxicolous T. ionochroma populations, but the difference was not statistically significant. Tillandsia ultriculala, a monocarpi...

The habitat preference and spatial distribution within a habitat of Guzmania monostachia, Catopsis berteroniana, C. floribunda and C. nutans were examined. These epiphytic bromeliads are not randomly distributed but are patchy, confined to Fraxinus caroliniana-Annona glabra swamps. Distribution within the habitat is subject to a number of constrain...

Introduction. The Doctrine of Signatures is found throughout the world. Most scholars dismiss it as a "primitive" or "prescientific" idea. Despite its long history, the doctrine has had little critical review. In its broadest sense, DOS could be stated as form recapitulates function; physical characteristics of plants reveal their therapeutic value...

Introduction. At the very crux of ethnopharmacology lies the assumption that traditional remedies are in place due to some sort of inherent biomedical activity. Thus, following this line of thought, remedies coming from medicinal plants that are applied in traditional medical (TM) practices should demonstrate more "activity" than other plants not u...