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Cryptobotany
 
 
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Cryptobotany is the study of various exotic plants which are not believed to exist by the scientific community, but which exist in myth, literature or unsubstantiated reports.

As with cryptozoology
Cryptozoology

Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience focused on the search for animals which are considered to be fictional or otherwise nonexistent by mainstream biology....
, the undisciplined field is associated with fringe research and is considered a pseudoscience
Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience is any knowledge, methodology, belief, or practice that is claimed to be scientific, or that is made to appear to be scientific, but which does not adhere to the scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, or otherwise lacks scientific status....
. Folk legend and ethnic usage of plants, often as interdisciplinary research, is presented and developed for an unknown species, in the hope of allowing those species to be collected or adequately identified.






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Cryptobotany is the study of various exotic plants which are not believed to exist by the scientific community, but which exist in myth, literature or unsubstantiated reports.

As with cryptozoology
Cryptozoology

Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience focused on the search for animals which are considered to be fictional or otherwise nonexistent by mainstream biology....
, the undisciplined field is associated with fringe research and is considered a pseudoscience
Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience is any knowledge, methodology, belief, or practice that is claimed to be scientific, or that is made to appear to be scientific, but which does not adhere to the scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, or otherwise lacks scientific status....
. Folk legend and ethnic usage of plants, often as interdisciplinary research, is presented and developed for an unknown species, in the hope of allowing those species to be collected or adequately identified. Any researcher or writer can identify himself or herself as a cryptobotanist; the field is surveyed within cryptozoological or other journals, or with varying degrees of scepticism as a protoscience
Protoscience

Protoscience refers to historical philosophical disciplines which existed prior to the development of scientific method, which allowed them to develop into science proper ....
.

Many plants remain undiscovered or are yet to be classified, however cryptobotany usually focuses on fantastical plants believed to have harmful or therapeutic interactions with people. Sources of data may be secondary or scant; reports may be plausible or outlandish.

Man eating plants
Man-eating tree

Man-eating tree can refer to any of various legendary carnivorous plants that are large enough to kill and consume a person or other large animal....
, most frequently inhabiting the jungles of Africa in popular fiction, may have been based on initial reports of plants that could trap and kill mammals, such as Nepenthes rajah
Nepenthes rajah

Nepenthes rajah is an carnivorous plant pitcher plant species of the monotypic Nepenthes Family . It is endemic to Mount Kinabalu and neighbouring Mount Tambuyukon in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo....
. However, there are unconfirmed reports, primarily from Latin America, that allege the existence of still-undiscovered species of large carnivorous plants, according to British cryptozoologist Karl Shuker
Karl Shuker

Karl P. N. Shuker is a United Kingdom zoologist, cryptozoologist, and author living in the West Midlands , England. He works as a full-time freelance zoological consultant, media consultant, and noted author specializing in cryptozoology....
's book The Beasts That Hide From Man (2003).

See also

  • Ethnobotany
    Ethnobotany

    Ethnobotany is the Scientific method of the relationships that exist between person and plants.Ethnobotanists aim to reliably document, describe and explain complex relationships between cultures and plants: focusing, primarily, on how plants are used, managed and perceived across human societies ...
  • Umdhlebi
    Umdhlebi

    Umdhlebi is an unverified plant species purported to originate in Zululand, South Africa. It was first reported in the journal Nature on November 2 1882 by Reverend G....


Bibliography

  • Terence McKenna, 1992 - Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge - A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution (Bantam) ISBN 0-553-37130-4