70 research outputs found
Essential Oil and Phylogenic Positions of Five Medicinal Litsea Species (Lauraceae)
No full text<p>Table S1. The information concerning the villages where the Litsea species were studied; Table S2 Sample part, place of collection, voucher number for Litsea species in GC-MS; Table S3 Voucher information and GenBank accession number in this study; Table S4 Primer used and sequencing for PCR amplification; Table S5 Species and medicinal plant used of Litsea species.; Table S6 Chemical compositions of the essential oils from barks leaves and roots of five Litsea species.</p>
Genetic diversity patterns of rice (Oryza sativa L.) landraces after migration by Tai Lue and Akha between China and Thailand
No full textCultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) is genetically diverse, and the numerous landraces represent a valuable genetic resource for present and future rice breeding. Part of the genetic rice diversity is held by the ethnic minority groups of Tai Lue and Akha who migrated from southern China to northern Thailand over the past two centuries. We analysed variation in simple sequence repeats (SSR) and an indel in the ORF100 region in their rice germplasms in Thailand and in China to understand if the communities today in the Nan and Chang Rai provinces in Thailand still cultivate traditional rice landraces of the Xishungbanna region in southern China, and how such traditional germplasms have evolved in isolation after the human migrations. We found one multilocus genotype shared by all upland rice populations in China and Thailand and that several allelic combinations of the Thai populations can be traced to the alleles pools of upland and paddy rice of the Xishungbanna rice populations. However the frequent occurrence of hybrids between upland and paddy rice in the Thai and Chinese germplasms of both the ethnic communities reveal genetic erosion of the traditional landraces due to hybridization and introgression
Very High Food Plant Diversity among Ethnic Groups in Northern Thailand
No full textThe combination of the high biodiversity and many ethnicities in Thailand results in extensive ethnobotanical studies, especially in the northern part of the country. Here we have assembled 7620 records from 60 references regarding how plants are used for food among 14 ethnicities in northern Thailand. The uses are based on 1182 different plant species. Vegetables are the most common food category, which contributed more than 60% of all use-reports and involved nearly 900 species. This was followed by the dessert fruit category, which included about 350 species and over 1800 use-reports. The similarity among the different ethnicities was low and the number of uses and species recorded among different ethnicities were significantly related to the number of studies that had been conducted for each group. This implies that additional ethnobotanical studies are still needed in order to conserve and compile the valuable traditional knowledge related to food plants. Many exotic species are now an important part of traditional knowledge, whereas rare endemic species are uncommon among wild food plants. This situation leads to a loss of traditional knowledge about food plants and reduced awareness of their importance. As a key to using this great reservoir of food for local people, traditional knowledge related to local wild food plants can contribute to the zero-hunger goal of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). More studies on the nutrient content and health properties of these plants could lead to the development of new crops to meet present consumer demands
Ethnobotany and Ecosystem Services in a Tidal Forest in Thailand
No full textEcosystem services from ecosystems have been providing different kinds of goods to people living in and around them. Here, the ecosystem services of the tidal forest in Thailand were investigated using the ethnobotanical research method. A total of 101 informants living around a tidal forest in Rayong Province, Thailand was interviewed using the free-listing technique. Totally, 48 species and 992 uses were recorded. Among these, the highest use value species included Cratoxylum cochinchinense, Garcinia cowa, Melientha suavis, and Nelumbo nucifera. Half of the informants received income from selling plant products which varied from 75 to 4000 USD annually without a significant difference between male and female informants. We found a significant correlation between economic value and the number of use-reports. Most economic species are food plants except one which was weaving material. Gender equality is supported by the ecosystem services since the difference in knowledge and generated income were not observed. Significantly, our results support that economic value is one of the most important factors to promote the recognition of traditional uses of local plants or on the other hand, the service from the ecosystem. Therefore, to conserve the existence of traditional knowledge, efforts from various stakeholders, e.g., the communities and the local and central governments, are required
A rediscovered record of Ainsliaea brandisiana (Asteraceae) from Thailand and its biogeographic significance
No full textAinsliaea brandisiana was regarded as distributed only in southeastern Myanmar. Koyama once reported the occurrence of A. brandisiana in Thailand in 1983, whereas Tseng thought it was a new species and described it as A. spnocephala in 1988. This treatment was accepted by Freire in 2007. Thus, the record of A. brandisiana from Thailand reported by Koyama was not valid. However, during a field trip in Phu Soi Dao National Park of northeastern Thailand, we found a remarkable species of Ainsliaea growing in mountain forests at the elevation of 1600 m. After detailed and comprehensive examination, we determined that it was A. brandisiana. This rediscovered record of A. brandisiana suggested a close phytogeographical connection between the mountain forests flora of southeastern Myanmar and that of northeastern Thailand, although they were separated by the lowlands rain forests of Thailand peninsula. We proposed a new hypothesis that there might be a plant migration route connecting southeastern Myanmar, northeastern Thailand and the Hengduan Mountains. Here, we described and illustrated A. brandisiana and provided photographs of its live specimens in the field, its habitat, morphological details of its floret, its distribution map and a key to all the known species of Ainsliaea from Thailand
Ethnomedicinal Plant Knowledge of the Karen in Thailand
No full textThe Thai Karen, the largest hill-tribe in Thailand, guard substantial ethnomedicinal plant knowledge, as documented in several studies that targeted single villages. Here, we have compiled information from all the reliable and published sources to present a comprehensive overview of the Karen ethnomedicinal plant knowledge. Our dataset covers 31 Karen villages distributed over eight provinces in Thailand. We used the Cultural Importance Index (CI) to determine which species were the most valuable to the Karen and the Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) to evaluate how well distributed the knowledge of ethnomedicinal plants was in various medicinal use categories. In the 31 Karen villages, we found 3188 reports of ethnomedicinal plant uses of 732 species in 150 plant families. Chromolaena odorata, Biancaea sappan, and Tinospora crispa were the most important medicinal plants, with the highest CI values. The Leguminosae, Asteraceae, Zingiberaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Lamiaceae, Acanthaceae, Apocynaceae, and Menispermaceae were the families with the highest CI values in the mentioned order. A high proportion of all the 3188 Karen use reports were used to treat digestive, general and unspecified, musculoskeletal, and skin disorders
Plants Used for Treating Hypertension Among Ethnic Groups in Northern Thailand
No full textThe incidence of hypertension (HT) is rapidly increasing globally, and it is considered to be a critical public health problem. Due to the demand for medication and because various side effects of anti-hypertensive drugs have been reported, complementary and alternative therapies, including Thai Indigenous medicine (TIM), should be explored for treating HT. Medicinal plants traditionally used by multiple cultures over long time periods in HT treatment are more likely to be pharmacologically active and might provide useful data, leading to anti-hypertensive drug discovery. Ethnomedicinal field observations were undertaken with 41 key informants in eleven villages in Chiang Mai province from December 2022 to November 2023. In addition, we gathered data on traditional plants used for treating HT among 12 ethnic groups from 41 original references published between 1987 and 2023, covering nine provinces in northern Thailand. Important species among plants used for treating hypertension were identified by calculating their relative frequency of citation (RFC). In total, we found 237 plant species that were used for treating HT. Of these, 173 species had already been reported in the literature, and 96 species were documented in our fieldwork. There were 30 plant species from our field survey that overlapped with species accounted for in the literature. Fabaceae was the plant family with the most species (23 sp, 10%) used for treating HT. The most commonly used species was Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC. (Asteraceae), and it had the highest recorded RFC value of 0.1979. There were 64 plant species that were reported for the first time for HT treatment among ethnic groups in northern Thailand. Of the recorded species, 24 were particularly promising in the treatment of HT, and their efficacy was confirmed by comparing our results to previous studies of plants with anti-hypertensive properties
Highly localised traditional knowledge of Mien medicinal plants in Chiang Rai, Thailand
No full textAbstract The Mien ethnic people have migrated from China to Thailand over centuries and traditionally settled in remote areas of northern Thailand. They relied extensively on the local ecosystem for construction, food, fodder, and medicine. There are only a few studies of Mien traditional knowledge in China and Nan, Thailand. This study examines the knowledge of medicinal plants used by Mien in Chiang Rai, Thailand. We investigated traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in three Mien villages in Thailand, highlighting a crucial yet vulnerable cultural heritage. For this study, we interviewed five traditional healers to gather data about their specialist medicinal uses of plants and an additional 90 villagers, who did not have this specialist knowledge, about their ethnobotanical understanding. Each use report was categorised using the International Classification of Primary Health Care. The usefulness of the plant taxa was assessed with the use value index. Our interviews revealed 352 use reports based on 77 plant species in 46 families, predominantly addressing women's health and digestive conditions. The most used plant families were Asteraceae, Rubiaceae, Fabaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Zingiberaceae, Plantaginaceae, Acanthaceae, Rhamnaceae, Amaranthaceae, Lamiaceae, and Vitaceae. The most frequently used species were Clausena excavata, Ricinus communis, Blumea balsamifera, Chloranthus elatior, Monosis volkameriifolia, Plantago major, Plumbago zeylanica, and Zingiber montanum, highlighting their critical roles in traditional medicinal practices. The Mien people in Chiang Rai, Thailand, possess substantial traditional knowledge regarding medicinal plants, especially for women's healthcare. The identification of numerous species in this study based on traditional usage raises concerns about the effect of ongoing acculturation of ethnic minorities in the region and the potential erosion of traditional knowledge. Some of the identified knowledge is highly localised in the three villages, making the conservation of that knowledge particularly important. We strongly advocate further initiatives aimed at conserving traditional Mien knowledge, as well as more studies in Laos PDR and Vietnam to cover the Mien's migration line. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog
Traditional Uses of Leguminosae among the Karen in Thailand
No full textLeguminosae (legumes) are one of the largest plant families. They are widely used for a variety of purposes by people around the world and include many important cultivated economic food crops. On local scales, legumes are commonly used by various ethnic groups. However, the data are incomplete and scattered, not least in Thailand. We found that species of legumes were important in Karen communities, so we decided to investigate in detail the traditional knowledge of legumes on a local scale among Karen people in northern Thailand. We interviewed six herbalists and eighty-four nonherbalist informants in three Karen villages in Chiang Mai province about their use of legumes, and about the local names for the species, using semistructured interviews. A total of 83 legumes species (in 45 genera) had 4443 use reports. Five of the 83 legume species had not been reported previously as used in Thailand. Most Karen use reports (43%) of legumes were for food, medicine (36%), and materials (8%), but in term of species more legumes (68 species) were used for medicine than for food (53 species). The legume genera with most used species were Crotalaria and Flemingia each with six species. The most important species are Tamarindus indica (CI = 3.38), Senegalia rugata (CI = 2.39), Glycine max (CI = 1.27) respectively
- …
