Mediterranean World Ethnobotany Tour

Grades 5 - 7

San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden features collections of plants that are native to the five Mediterranean climate zones of the world.

From the Cradle of Civilization in the Mediterranean Basin, to the Aborigines of Australia, to the  Native Peoples of California, Chile

and South Africa, indigenous cultures have survived since antiquity. Each culture figured out ways to use plants for food, clothing, shelter, medicine, tools, ceremony and other cultural practices.

The Mediterranean World Ethnobotany Tour is a fascinating study of these cultures and their uses of plants. Ethnobotany is "the plant lore of a race of people, or the botany of a culture other than ours." (Webster’s Dictionary) It is a cross between anthropology and botany. It is becoming a very popular subject to study and the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden is the only place on the Central Coast of California to come study the Ethnobotany of all five of the Mediterranean zones of the world.

The materials are aligned with the Science and History/Social Studies Content Standards for California Public Schools. It is integrated with language arts and math lesson plans. We hope you enjoy discovering the world of Ethnobotany at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden and return many times in the future to continue your ethnic studies.

 

BASIC CONCEPTS

The garden tour is designed to illustrate five key concepts:

1.

There are five Mediterranean climate regions of the world.

2.

Each of the Mediterranean climate regions of the world has their own unique indigenous cultures.

3.

These indigenous, or native, cultures have lived in particular regions and environments for very long periods of time.

4.

The natural environment determines how people live, what they eat and how they sustain life within its parameters.

5.

Conversely, the environment and its resources are altered by human development causing long term effect on its evolution as a habitat for plant and animal life.


California State Standards Covered


5th

6th

7th

History/

5.1.1.

6.1.3.

7.2.5.

Social Science

5.1.2.

6.2.2.

7.6.1.

   

6.4.1

7.11.2

 

Fifth Grade

5.1.1 Describe how geography and climate influenced the way various nations lived and adjusted to the natural environment, including locations of villages, the distinct structures that they built, and how they obtained food, clothing, tools and utensils.

5.1.2 Describe varied customs and folklore traditions.

Sixth Grade

6.1.3 Discuss the climatic changes and human modifications of the physical environment that gave rise to the domestication of plants and animals and new sources of clothing and shelter.

6.2.2 Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power.

6.4.1 Discuss the connections between geography and the development of city-states in the region of the Aegean Sea, including patterns of trade and commerce among Greek city-states and within the wider Mediterranean region.

Seventh Grade

7.2.5 Describe the growth of cities and the establishment of trade routes among Asia, Africa, and Europe, the products and inventions that traveled along these routes (e.g., spices, textiles, paper, steel, new crops), and the role or merchants in Arab society.

7.6.1 Study the geography of the Europe and the Eurasian landmass, including its location, topography, waterways, vegetation, and climate and their relationship to ways of life in Medieval Europe.

7.11.2 Discuss the exchanges of plants, animals, technology, culture and ideas among Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the major economic and social effects on each continent.

 

Click here to sign up for a tour.

Click here to view the Pre-school tour details.

Click here to view the Discover Mediterranean Plants tour details

Click here to view the Mediterranean Plant Adaptation tour details.

Click here to view the California Natives / People and Plants tour details.

Click here to view the Learning from the Land tour details.

Click here to view the Biogeography tour details.

 

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