thebahamasweekly.com - New Book on Bahamian Bush Medicine

Lead author Dr Jeffrey McCormack is a former faculty member at Middlebury College, and the University of Virginia. He trained in natural products chemistry and physiological plant ecology, and has worked in the fields of sustainable agriculture, genetic preservation, plant breeding, and ethnobotany.

Dr McCormack is the founder and director of the seed company Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, which distributes heirloom vegetable varieties, documenting their origins and uses, and recording the histories associated with heirloom and heritage seeds. His oral history projects were twice featured on National Public Radio, including NPR’s “Living on Earth” programme.

Co-author Kathleen Maier is a widely known in the US as a herbalist, and received the first Medicinal Plant Conservation Award from the United Plant Savers. She is currently director of Sacred Plant Traditions in Charlottesville, Virginia and is a founding board member of Common Ground Healing Arts. Co-author Patty Wallens has a background in child development, family relations, medical interviewing and home-based counseling.

This 400-page book, Bush Medicine of the Bahamas- A Cross-cultural Perspective from San Salvador Island, features a unique multi-dimensional approach. In addition to a list of over 100 medicinal plants, it includes pharmacological notes, oral histories, and cross-cultural uses of Bahamian medicinal plants.

The idea for the book came when Dr McCormack and Patty Wallens, his wife, attended a bush medicine tour at the Gerace Research Centre on San Salvador, given by Bertram Forbes in the summer of 2007.

"This project would not have been possible without the kindness and generosity of the interviewees who welcomed us into their homes, who shared their stories, served us their bush teas, and took us out into the bush to teach us about their knowledge of plant medicine," Dr McCormack said "This book is our gift to them, and their children."

He said the book was dedicated to the preservation and continued use of traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in the Bahamas. Chapters explore the cultural roots, principles, and practice of bush medicine. The materia medica covers 120 medicinal plants and 22 non-botanical remedies, including details of administration and dosage, pharmacology, and the cross-cultural uses of bush medicine.

"Also included are colourful oral histories providing details of the healers' personal practices and glimpses of the culture of San Salvador. And the book can also serve as a field guide to medicinal flora and will therefore be of interest to nature-minded travelers throughout the Caribbean."

Bahamian bush medicine uses tropical plants to cure diseases and treat ailments. Enslaved Africans brought to a practical knowledge to the New World that helped them recognize the potential healing qualities of many unfamiliar plants in the Bahamas. Under the influence of European settlers, these traditions were distilled, reformulated and refined by generations of experimentation.

Published by JHM Designs Publications in Virginia, Bush Medicine of the Bahamas is a large-format hardcover book with 161 illustrations (104 in colour), including photographs of bush medicine practitioners and the island landscapes where they harvest their plant medicines. One of the appendices contains a dictionary of Bahamian dialect.

The book wholesales at $31.95 from Media Enterprises (http://bahamasmedia.com/). A portion of the net proceeds of sales will be donated to the Bahamas National Trust. For additional information see "Reviews" at http://www.bushmedicine. org/reviews-bush-medicine.html