Józef Rostafiński's ethnobotanical enquiry of 1883 concerning Polish vernacular names and uses of plants

In 1883, Polish botanist Jozef Rostafinski distributed a questionnaire to Poles with knowledge of peasant culture. Rostafinski asked about the names and uses of about 130 various plants, both wild and cultivated. About 370 individuals took part in the survey, sending nearly 860 letters. Only 359, sent by 227 correspondents, are now stored at the Museum of the Jagiellonian University Botanical Garden (Krakow, Poland). These letters contain nearly 25,800 records. Despite obtaining a vast amount of information from his enquiry, Rostafinski never made full use of the data. Rostafinski's questionnaire occupies quite an early position in the history of ethnobotany. It was the most significant one at that time in regard of its size, issues included in the questions and the obtained results.