@article {18, title = {Karen and Lawa medicinal plant use: uniformity or ethnic divergence?}, journal = {J Ethnopharmacol}, volume = {151}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {517-27}, abstract = {

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: We here tease apart the ethnopharmacological knowledge of plants in two Thai villages to determine to which degree the uses are particular to individual ethnic groups and to which degree they are part of a generalized and uniform set of widespread medicinal plants used over a large geographic range. We compared Karen and Lawa knowledge of medicinal plants in the Mae Cheam watershed of northern Thailand, where both ethnic groups have settled and share ecological conditions for resource extraction. We were interested in documenting the degree to which these two ethnic groups use the same or different medicinal plant species. The use of the same plant species by the two groups was considered a sign of uniform and cross-cultural local knowledge, whereas the use of different medicinal plants by each group was considered a sign of culturally specific local knowledge that developed within each ethnic group.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We inventoried the plant species in different habitats around one Karen village and one Lawa village using stratified vegetation plots and using semi-structured questionnaires we interviewed 67 key informants regarding their use of plants for medicine. We then calculated the Fidelity level FL (FL values near 100\% for a species indicate that almost all use reports refer to the same way of using the species, whereas low FL values indicate that a species is used for many different purposes) and cultural importance index CI (the sum of the proportion of informants that mention each of the use categories for a given species) to estimate the variation in medicinal plant use. We used Jaccard\&$\#$39;s Index JI (This index relates the number of shared species to the total number of species) to analyze the similarity of medicinal plant use between the two villages.

RESULTS: A total of 103 species of medicinal plant species in 87 genera and 41 families were identified and they were used to cure 35 ailments. The FL of the medicinal plant species varied from 10\% to 100\%, was different for each ailment, and differed between the two ethnic groups. The most important medicinal plant species, those with the highest CI value, were not the same in the two villages. Costus speciosus, which is used to treat urinary infections and wounds in animals, had the highest CI value in the Karen village, whereas Sambucus javanica, which is used to treat wounds, fractures, bloat, and edema in humans, had the highest CI value in the Lawa village. Only 17 medicinal species (16.5\%) were shared between the two villages. Methods of preparation and application were significantly different between the two villages, whereas the plant parts used, habit, and route of administration were similar.

CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that ethnic groups that live in the same geographic area can have significantly different traditional knowledge systems for medicinal plants, at least when it comes to the species used and their preparation and medicinal application. We assume that differences in cultural history and background in the two villages led to differences in medicinal plant use, preparation, and application.

}, keywords = {Culture, Ethnobotany, Ethnopharmacology, Female, Humans, Male, Medicine, Traditional, Plants, Medicinal, Population Groups, Thailand}, issn = {1872-7573}, doi = {10.1016/j.jep.2013.11.009}, author = {Junsongduang, Auemporn and Balslev, Henrik and Inta, Angkhana and Jampeetong, Arunothai and Wangpakapattanawong, Prasit} } @article {3, title = {Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by Tai Yai in Northern Thailand.}, journal = {J Ethnopharmacol}, volume = {151}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Feb 3}, pages = {829-38}, abstract = {

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: We studied traditional knowledge of medicinal plants used by Tai Yai people in Northern Thailand. We documented traditional medical practices and determined importance among the Tai Yai. This paper reports on knowledge in usage of medicinal plants of the Tai Yai people in Northern Thailand.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Interviews were conducted in 4 Tai Yai villages in Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai provinces whose inhabitants immigrated from Myanmar at different times. Discussions and interviews were held with 126 key-informants (56 males and 70 females) ranging in age from 16 to 80 years in three age groups (age 16-40, 41-60, and 61-80). We calculated the informant consensus factor (ICF) for use category, use value index (UV) for use report of plant. We tested differences between the knowledge of different age groups and locations using principal component analysis (PCA).

RESULTS: These Tai Yai people used of 141 medicinal plants belonging to 59 families. Of the medicinal plant species, the highest percentage was in the family Euphorbiaceae: Croton acutifolius and Croton roxburghii. The highest number of Informant consensus factor was for metabolic system disorders. Overall, Tai Yai people use medicinal plants to cure many sicknesses such as hypertension, lumbago, wounds, puerperium, kidney disorders, kidney stones, coughs, fevers, hemorrhoids, flatulence and malaria. There were no significant differences in knowledge of plants usage among villages of different ages. In addition, the knowledge of the plants was not significantly different between men and women. However, we found that the younger had less experience with and knowledge of medicinal plants than older people.

CONCLUSIONS: The result indicates loss of accumulated knowledge of medicinal plants and traditional use. Although, the medicinal plant knowledge was passed from one generation to the next by word of mouth, the detailed documentation of medicinal plants and their use may effectively prevent the knowledge-loss through time.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Ethnobotany, Female, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Humans, Male, Medicine, Traditional, Middle Aged, Plants, Medicinal, Population Groups, Thailand, Young Adult}, issn = {1872-7573}, doi = {10.1016/j.jep.2013.11.033}, author = {Khuankaew, Sunee and Srithi, Kamonnate and Tiansawat, Pimonrat and Jampeetong, Arunothai and Inta, Angkhana and Wangpakapattanawong, Prasit} } @article {2, title = {Spatial and Seasonal Diversity of Wild Food Plants in Home Gardens of Northeast Thailand(1).}, journal = {Econ Bot}, volume = {69}, year = {2015}, month = {2015}, pages = {99-113}, abstract = {

Wild food plants (WFPs) are major components of tropical home gardens, constituting an important resource for poor farmers. The spatial and seasonal diversity of WFPs was analyzed across multi-species spatial configurations occurring within home gardens in a rice farming village in northeast Thailand. Data were collected in 77 sampling sites corresponding to five different home garden spatial configurations, namely fenced plot, fenced plot margin, yard, home garden boundary, and pot. Absolute abundance and frequency of occurrence were quantified per individual WFP species in both dry and rainy seasons, and data on additional uses (besides food) were collected through focus group discussions for each WFP species. A total of 20 species corresponding to 13 botanical families were reported. Results show that species abundance and frequency of occurrence varied seasonally and spatially within home gardens. Diversity, as observed in the analysis of Shannon and Simpson diversity indexes, also differed seasonally and across different spatial configurations. Home gardens showed higher diversity in the dry season because of the presence of human management. Ninety-five percent of the WFP species presented additional uses, with nine different types of uses in total. Finally, as this study demonstrates, the results on both the spatial and seasonal diversity of WFPs over different spatial configurations comprise a new perspective in home garden research by providing new understandings about their composition and management.

}, issn = {0013-0001}, doi = {10.1007/s12231-015-9309-8}, author = {Cruz-Garcia, Gisella S and Struik, Paul C} }