Plant management among the Nahua and the Mixtec in the Balsas River Basin, Mexico: an ethnobotanical approach to the study of plant domestication

• Published in: Human ecology : an interdisciplinary journal Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. 455 - 478
• Main Authors: Casas, A. (Instituto de Biologia, Mexico, Mexico.), Carmen Vazquez, M. del, Viveros, J.L, Caballero, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Plenum Publishing Corporation 01-12-1996; Kluwer Academic Publishers Group; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural management; Artificial selection; Botany; CONDUITE DE LA CULTURE; Corn; COURS D'EAU; CROP MANAGEMENT; Crops; CURSOS DE AGUA; DOMESTICACION; DOMESTICATION; Ecology; Economics; ETHNOBOTANIQUE; ETHNOBOTANY; Ethnology; ETNOBOTANICA; Humans; Hunting, fishing, gathering; MALEZAS; MANEJO DEL CULTIVO; MAUVAISE HERBE; MEXICO; MEXIQUE; Mixtec Tribe; Morphological source materials; Nahuatl Tribe; Natural vegetation; Plant domestication; Plant interaction; PLANTAS SILVESTRES; PLANTE SAUVAGE; Plants; PUEBLOS; River basins; RIVERS; VILLAGE; VILLAGES; WEEDS; WILD PLANTS; Central America; Mexico; Subsistence strategy; Ethnobotany; Selection; Process; Transplantation; Natural resource; Human ecology; Resource administration; Sowing; Mixtec; Plant domestication; Nahua; Wild plant; Gathering; Crop selection; Protection
• ISSN: 0300-7839; 1572-9915
• DOI: 10.1007/BF02168862

Different forms of management of wild, weedy, and domesticated plants carried out by the Nahua and the Mixtec in the Balsas River Basin, Mexico, are described. Along with cultivation of domesticated plants, these forms of plant management include gathering from wild populations; in situ tolerance of plant individuals during clearings of natural vegetation; in situ enhancement and protection of particular plants among populations of some species; as well as sowing or planting of propagules and transplantation of complete individuals of weedy and wild plants in controlled ex situ environments. Processes of artificial selection and possible routes of domestication occurring in these forms of plant management are discussed.