List of Plants of Southwest Virginia Explanation

American Indians used 2874...species as medicines, 186 as foods, 230 as dyes, and 492...for weaving, basketmaking, building materials, and so on. Source:Moerhman, 1998:11.

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The accompanying list of plants started out from an extract of plant names mentioned in Tennessee land records (TennesseeGenWeb which based its presentation on a larger article,. "Common Words in Middle Tennessee Land Documents" Journal of Warren County Genealogical Association 4(2) Summer 1995). (WCGAJ 1995, no. 2). The only advantage with starting with what was in these sources is that Chastain et alia. identifies tries that were recognized as significant for Tennessee land owners. Some of the species listed in Chastain et alia are not found in southwest Virginia; such species have been excluded from the list below, based on their distribution given in the USDA Plant Database.

This table is currently under development. Additional information about species is being drawn from various sources. The USDA Plant Database is particularly useful for this purpose because it provides information on "culturally significant species". Ethnobotanical information on some species has also be taken from Source:Moerhman, 1998, which describes in considerable detail, utilization of specific plants by North American Indians.