壮族是中国南方一个历史悠久的民族，主要连片聚居在广西的南宁市、柳州市、来宾市、河池市、百色市、崇左市以及这六市所辖的各个县份。此外广西其他地方也有散居的壮族。云南的文山壮族苗族自治州和广东的连山壮族瑶族自治县也有壮族分布。与广西接壤的贵州、湖南两省的边缘地带也有不少壮族分布。壮族人民居住的地方大致可以连成一片，其间也有汉、瑶、苗、彝、侗、水、仫佬、毛南、仡佬等民族相互杂居。
壮乡大地风光秀丽，气候宜人，名胜古迹为数不少。桂林阳朔一带的山水自不待言，早已扬名于世。南宁的青秀山、伊岭岩，武鸣、马山、上林三县交界的大明山仙境，柳州的鱼峰山、都乐岩，桂平的西山，隆安的龙虎山，宁明的花山，崇左的石林，大新的德天瀑布，龙胜的花坪和龙脊梯田，无一不是景色迷人的幽雅所在。
广西这块土地上有不少奇珍异宝。由于雨量充沛，阳光充足，壮乡的植物品种非常丰富。蕨类植物中的活化石——桫椤，茶族中的皇后——金花茶，植物中的珍宝——银杉，优质木材中的擎天树、蚬木、金丝李、格木，它们皆把根须深深地插在壮乡这片热土里。药材类的金银花、罗汉果、板蓝根、田七、桂皮等等，更是得天独厚。水果中的龙眼、荔枝、芒果、菠萝则被誉为

Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Aims and Scope of This Book
1.2 Theoretical Foundations
1.3 Early History, the Language and Its Speakers, and Geographic Setting 1.4 Zhuang Cultural Beliefs
1.5 Zhuang Botanical Studies: A Brief Overview
1.6 Fieldwork
1.7 Structure of the Book
Chapter 2 Zhuang Ethnobotanical Nomenclature: Preliminaries
2.1 The Names of Main Parts of Plants
2.2 Major Categories in Zhuang Ethobotanical Classification
2.3 The Structure of Plant Names in Zhuang
2.4 The Emergence of Plant Nomenclatures in Zhuang
2.5 Ranks in Zhuang Botanical Taxonomy
2.6 Comparative Perspective
2.7 Summary
Chapter 3 Farming and Food
3.1 The Historical Background of Zhuang Agriculture
3.2 The Seasons of the Farming Year as Expressed in Song
3.3 Phenology and Farming
3.4 Cultivation Methods of the Zhuang People
3.5 The Zhuang People's Food
3.6 Cultural Values Represented by Food
3.7 Summary
Chapter 4 Grains and Other Crops in Zhuang Areas
4.1 Cereal Crops
4.2 Edible Root Tuber Plants
4.3 Woody Grains
4.4 Oil Plants
4.5 Fibre Plants
4.6 Summary
Chapter 5 Vegetables
5.1 Categorization of Vegetables
5.2 Medicinal and Other Uses of Vegetables
5.3 Cultural Relationship as Seen from Vegetables' Names
5.4 Summary
Chapter 6 Poisonous and Medicinal Plants
6.1. Poisonous Herbaceous Plants
6.2 Poisonous Vines
6.3 Poisonous Xylophytous Plants
6.4 The Zhuang People's Clever Use of Poison
6.5 Summary
Chapter 7 Special Plants
7.1 Rare Tree Species
7.2 Plants with Economic Value
7.3 Plants with Special Uses
7.4 Summary
Chapter 8 Bamboo
8.1 Common Types of Bamboo in Zhuang Areas
8.2 Common Bamboo Artifacts
8.3 An Elaborated Bamboo Culture
8.4 Summary
Chapter 9 Conclusion
9.1 Review of Findings
9.2 Future Directions
References
Appendix 1 The Sounds ofMashan Zhuang
Appendix 2 Zhuang Songs
Appendix 3 The Story of the Snail Girl
Appendix 4 Table of Plant Names
Appendix 5 Figures