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This essay, which is the fifth in the series "Recollections, Reflections, and Revelations: Personal Experiences in Ethnobiology", is a personal reminiscence by the researcher on his first field experience in Turkey in the late 1970s, which was a failure from an ethnobiological point of view but a success for a social scientist pursuing Turkic studies. The author later returned to ethnobiology during subsequent fieldwork on the Faroes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Southernwood, Artemisia abrotanum L., is a plant that has been cultivated for centuries. Most probable is that it has its origin in the eastern Mediterranean area. It has been kept for its fragrance and has a history of being a medicinal and insect-repellent plant. In earlier centuries, the plant was commonly found in peasants' gardens in Sweden and utilised especially as a component in the bouquets brought to church by women. The aim of this article is to bring together data about Artemisia abrotanum and to summarise its cultural history and folk botanical importance. In Sweden, it is still grown in some gardens in the countryside and is esteemed for its fragrance. Methods: In the early twentieth century, various folklore archives in Sweden (Lund, Uppsala) distributed questionnaires about the use of church bouquets. These records provided interesting information about the importance of southernwood and other species. We have also used data found in ethnographic records and local historical reports. Between 2007 and 2017, a nationwide inventory organised by the Programme for Diversity of Cultivated Plants (POM) documented and gathered several heirloom varieties of southernwood. Results and discussion: Together with a few other domestic plants of foreign origin (e.g. Lavandula angustifolia Mill., Tanacetum balsamita L., and Tanacetum vulgare L.), Artemisia abrotanum has been cultivated throughout Sweden in peasants' gardens as a medicinal plant and for its fragrance. According to the sources, Artemisia abrotanum was one of the most common species cultivated by the Swedish peasantry. Although used in folk medicine and to some extent as a repellent, it was most esteemed for its fragrance. Peasant women would carry a twig of the plant in the obligatory church bouquet or in the hymnal when attending the services in the Lutheran church on Sundays. In Sweden, this custom with the church bouquet has been known since the time of the Reformation in the sixteenth century and survived until the late nineteenth century, when major changes took place in connection with industrialisation, modernisation, secularisation and urbanisation. Although the custom with the church bouquet disappeared, nationwide inventories conducted by the Programme for Diversity of Cultivated Plants in 2007–2015 revealed that the plant still exists in many gardens on the countryside throughout Sweden as a cultural relict and reminiscence plants. People care for the plant, have sentiments for it and it is spread from person-to-person. Several heirloom varieties have been discovered, which will be preserved ex situ for the future. Conclusions: Southernwood was probably the most commonly used herb in the peasant women's church bouquet until the end of the nineteenth century. It had a satisfying fragrance and was easy to grow. Although the custom has disappeared, the plant has survived until the present day in many gardens as a reminiscence of the custom of former times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: White bryony, Bryonia alba L., is a relatively little known plant in the history of folk medicine and folk botany in eastern and northern Europe. The main aim of this article is to bring together data about Bryonia alba and to summarise its cultural history and folk botanical importance in eastern and northern Europe. Nowadays, this species is considered at best as an ornamental plant, and at worst as a noxious weed. However, ethnographic and historical sources show that it used to be of magical, medicinal and ritual importance in our part of Europe. Methods: A diachronic perspective was chosen in order to outline and analyse the devolution and changes in the use of B. alba, in the course of which we take into account the social, ecological and chemical aspects of the usage of this plant. We have therefore traced down and analysed published sources such as ethnographical descriptions, floras, linguistic records and topographical descriptions from northern and central-eastern Europe, particularly Scandinavia, Baltic States, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and the Balkan Peninsula. The analysed material is presented and discussed within the biocultural domains that developed in the interaction between human societies and Bryonia alba. Results and discussion: Bryonia alba has many folk names in northern and central-eastern parts of Europe: some of them refer to its medicinal properties, life form, odour, or toxicity; others to its possession by the devil. As we learn, Bryonia alba was an inexpensive surrogate for mandrake (Mandragora officinarum L.) and sold as such in the discussed parts of Europe. The folklore and medicinal properties ascribed to mandrake were passed on to white bryony due to an apparent resemblance of the roots. In ethnographic descriptions, we find a mixture of booklore, i.e. written traditions, and oral traditions concerning this species. Some of this folklore must have been an alternative stories spread by swindlers who wished to sell fake mandrake roots to people. Conclusions: Plant monographs and reviews of particular species tend to concentrate on the botanicals, which might have great useful potential. White bryony presents a precisely opposite example, being a plant that used to be of medicinal relevance and was furnished with symbolical meaning, and has nowadays preserved only its ornamental value among some urban and rural dwellers of northern Europe. Nonetheless, it might be considered as a part of the biocultural heritage in old, well-preserved gardens. It is still used as a medicine in some parts of the Balkan Peninsula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]