Angkhana Inta

A comparative study on medicinal plants used in Akha's traditional medicine in China and Thailand, cultural coherence or ecological divergence?

AIM OF THE STUDY The survey aims to study the effect of geographic separation of ethnic groups on local knowledge of medicinal plants used by Akha people in Thailand and China, who were separated 100-120 years ago, to see how different the two geographically distinct but culturally similar groups were in this respect. MATERIALS AND METHODS Interviewing 10 villagers in each of five Akha villages, three in Thailand and two in China, about which plants they used and how they used them. RESULTS A total of 95 medicinal plants registered in the five villages only 16 were shared between China and Thailand. Otherwise the use patterns were quite similar with respect to which plant families and plant growth forms were used and also in terms of in which habitats the Akha found their medicinal plants. CONCLUSIONS The moving to a different site has forced the Akha to find a new set of species, but that when using these new species they have maintained other traditions relating to medicinal plants.

Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by Tai Yai in Northern Thailand.

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.

Karen and Lawa medicinal plant use: Uniformity or ethnic divergence?

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 Jaccards 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.

Medicinal plants from swidden fallows and sacred forest of the Karen and the Lawa in Thailand

BackgroundMany ecosystem services provided by forests are important for the livelihoods of indigenous people. Sacred forests are used for traditional practices by the ethnic minorities in northern Thailand and they protect these forests that are important for their culture and daily life. Swidden fallow fields are a dominant feature of the agricultural farming landscapes in the region. In this study we evaluate and compare the importance of swidden fallow fields and sacred forests as providers of medicinal plants among the Karen and Lawa ethnic minorities in northern Thailand.MethodsWe made plant inventories in swidden fallow fields of three different ages (1–2, 3–4, 5–6 years old) and in sacred forests around two villages using a replicated stratified design of vegetation plots. Subsequently we interviewed the villagers, using semi-structured questionnaires, to assess the medicinal use of the species encountered in the vegetation survey.ResultsWe registered a total of 365 species in 244 genera and 82 families. Of these 72(19%) species in 60(24%) genera and 32(39%) families had medicinal uses. Although the sacred forest overall housed more species than the swidden fallow fields, about equal numbers of medicinal plants were derived from the forest and the fallows. This in turn means that a higher proportion (48% and 34%) of the species in the relatively species poor fallows were used for medicinal purposes than the proportion of medicinal plants from the sacred forest which accounted for 17–22%. Of the 32 medicinal plant families Euphorbiaceae and Lauraceae had most used species in the Karen and Lawa villages respectively.ConclusionSacred forest are important for providing medicinal plant species to the Karen and Lawa communities in northern Thailand, but the swidden fallows around the villages are equally important in terms of absolute numbers of medicinal plant species, and more important if counted as proportion of the total number of species in a habitat. This points to the importance of secondary vegetation as provider of medicinal plants around rural villages as seen elsewhere in the tropics.

Woody Plant Diversity in Urban Homegardens in Northern Thailand

Woody Plant Diversity in Urban Homegardens in Northern Thailand. Homegardens are traditional farming systems located within homesteads and are found in many countries throughout the world. The main functions of the homegardens are providing food and other goods for the household and also contributing to the generation of cash income. The number of species found in homegardens is an important trait that reflects their versatility and multiple uses. Woody homegarden plants are important because, being perennial, they represent stability from year to year, and they also produce large amounts of fruits and leaves which are important for food security and income generation. Most homegarden studies have focused on rural areas while urban homegardens have received little attention. In this study we show the importance of homegardens in an urban area by investigating woody plant diversity and the factors that drive this trait in a village in northern Thailand. We identified 94 woody plant species, most of which had edible fruits. The most common was mango (Mangifera indica), whereas economically the most important woody plant was the white fig (Ficus virens), which generated about USD 40 two times a year per tree. Thirteen household characteristics were examined using nonlinear principle analysis (NLPCA) in three dimension. Only the household head’s level of education, occupation, and the age of the household were significantly correlated with diversity indices. Moreover, diversity (Shannon and Gini-Simpson indices) of woody plants was significantly correlated with abundance and overall species richness. However, evenness was negatively correlated with abundance.ความหลากหลายของพืชมีเนื้อไม้ในสวนครัวเขตเมือง ของภาคเหนือของประเทศไทย. ‘สวนครัว’ คือ การทำการเกษตรภายในอาณาบริเวณบ้าน ที่พบได้ทั่วไปในหลายๆ ประเทศทั่วโลก ประโยชน์หลักของสวนครัวต่อเจ้าของคือ เป็นแหล่งอาหาร และของใช้ต่างๆ ในชีวิตประจำวัน โดยมี ‘จำนวนชนิดพืช’ ที่พบในสวนครัว เป็นปัจจัยสำคัญช่วยให้สวนครัวมีประโยชน์ใช้สอยที่หลากหลาย ในบรรดาพืชเหล่านี้ พืชมีเนื้อไม้นับเป็นหนึ่งในองค์ประกอบที่สำคัญที่สุดของสวนครัว เนื่องจากเป็นองค์ประกอบที่มีความถาวร สามารถผลิตอาหารให้แก่เจ้าของได้อย่างต่อเนื่อง เป็นเวลานาน นับว่ามีความสำคัญอย่างยิ่งต่อความมั่นคงทางอาหารและรายได้ ในงานวิจัยเกี่ยวกับสวนครัวนั้น ส่วนใหญ่เน้นไปที่การศึกษาสวนครัวในพื้นชนบท ในขณะที่มีการศึกษาในเขตเมืองเพียงเล็กน้อย งานวิจัยนี้ เป็นการศึกษาความสำคัญของสวนครัว ต่อชุมชนที่อาศัยอยู่ในเขตเมือง โดยการศึกษาความหลากหลายของพืชมีเนื้อไม้ และปัจจัยที่มีผลต่อความหลากหลายนี้ โดยเลือกศึกษาจากหมู่บ้านในภาคเหนือของประเทศไทย จากการศึกษาพบพืชทั้งสิ้น 94 ชนิด โดยส่วนใหญ่เป็นพืชอาหาร พืชที่พบบ่อยที่สุด คือ มะม่วง (Mangifera indica) ส่วนพืชที่มีสร้างรายได้ให้แก่เจ้าของมากที่สุดคือ ผักเฮือด (Ficus virens) แต่ละต้นสามารถสร้างรายได้ปีละ 2,400 บาท นอกจากนี้ ในการศึกษานี้ ได้ทำการศึกษาตัวแปร จำนวน 13 ตัวแปร ที่คาดว่าจะมีอิทธิพลต่อโดยใช้การวิเคราะห์ nonlinear principle analysis (NLPCA) ได้ตัวแปรใหม่สามตัวแปร จากนั้นนำตัวแปรทั้งสามมาวิเคราะห์สหสัมพันธ์กับดัชนีความหลากหลาย สรุปได้ว่า ปัจจัยที่มีอิทธิพลต่อความหลากหลายของพืชในสวนครัว ได้แก่ อายุของสวนครัว ระดับการศึกษาและอาชีพของหัวหน้าครอบครัว นอกจากนี้ยังพบว่าค่าดัชนีความหลากหลาย (Shannon และ Gini-Simpson indices) มีความสัมพันธ์เชิงบวกอย่างมีนัยสำคัญกับจำนวนต้น และชนิดพืชมีเนื้อไม้ที่พบในสวนครัว อย่างไรก็ตามพบว่า จำนวนต้นที่พบมีความสัมพันธ์เชิงลบกับความสม่ำเสมอ

Ethnomedicinal plant diversity in Thailand

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Plants have provided medicine to humans for thousands of years, and in most parts of the world people still use traditional plant-derived medicine. Knowledge related to traditional use provides an important alternative to unavailable or expensive western medicine in many rural communities. At the same time, ethnomedicinal discoveries are valuable for the development of modern medicine. Unfortunately, globalization and urbanization causes the disappearance of much traditional medicinal plant knowledge. AIM OF THE STUDY To review available ethnobotanical knowledge about medicinal plants in Thailand and to estimate its diversity. METHODS Information about ethnomedicinal uses of plants in Thailand was extracted from 64 scientific reports, books, and theses produced between 1990 and 2014. Plant identifications in the primary sources were updated to currently accepted names following The Plant List website and the species were assigned to family following the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Use Values (UV) were calculated to estimate the importance of medicinal plant species (UVs) and families (UVf). Medicinal use categories, plant parts used, preparations of the medicine, and their applications were noted for each use report. RESULTS We found 16,789 use reports for 2187 plant species in 206 families. These data came from 19 ethnic groups living in 121 villages throughout Thailand. The health conditions most commonly treated with medicinal plants were in the categories digestive system disorders, infections/infestations, nutritional disorders, muscular-skeletal system disorders, and genitourinary system disorders. Plant families with very high use values were Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Acanthaceae, Lamiaceae, and Zingiberaceae and species with very high use values were Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M.King & H.Rob., Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC., and Cheilocostus speciosus (J.Koenig) C.D.Specht. Stems and leaves were the most used plant parts, but also other parts of the plants were used in medicinal recipes. The most common way of using the medicinal plants was as a decoction in water. CONCLUSION We found 2187 plant species that were used in traditional medicine in Thailand. Of these a few hundred had high use values, suggesting that they may produce bioactive compounds with strong physiological effects.

Karen Homegardens: Characteristics, Functions, and Species Diversity

Diversity is one of the most important traits of homegardens and contributes to maintaining their functions. Here, we investigated the diversity, characteristics, and functions of 75 Karen homegardens from four villages in Chiang Mai and Tak provinces in northern Thailand. In each homegarden, all used plant species were registered and classified according to their main use. The diversity and richness in each homegarden was estimated and the stratification of plants in horizontal zones was investigated. A total 268 plant species were recorded, ranging from 100 to 146 species in each of the four villages. These plants were mostly kept in the homegarden yard or along their boundaries. The most common species were mango (Mangifera indica L.), jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.), guava (Psidium guajava L.), and taro Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott. Besides these species, most plants differed from one village to another. Distance between the homegardens was important; homegardens in the same village were more similar than those in different villages. However, beyond the individual level, the distances alone could not be used to determine similarity. Despite the variation of species found in homegardens, the function and horizontal stratification of the Karen homegardens shared many traits. They satisfied both physical and aesthetic needs to the Karen people as witnessed by the high proportion of food and ornamental species. The reverse effects of urbanization (we used the distance from the nearest urban area as a proxy) on the diversity of ornamental species was also observed. In general, Karen homegardens had high richness and diversity which directly benefited the conservation of plant species. This diversity promotes food security at the household and community levels.

Chemical diversity and anti-acne inducing bacterial potentials of essential oils from selected Elsholtzia species

Abstract Essential oils from the aerial parts of four Elsholtzia species; Elsholtzia stachyodes, Elsholtzia communis, Elsholtzia griffithii and Elsholtzia beddomei were obtained by steam distillation and their chemical components were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Principle Component Analysis was used to identify the chemical variations in the essential oils from these plants, which could be categorised into two groups according to their main chemical components which are acylfuran derivatives and oxygenated monoterpenes. Additionally, the anti-acne inducing bacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis were evaluated. The oil from E. stachyodes was the most efficacious against the growth of S. aureus and S. epidermidis having MIC values of 0.78 and 1.56 μL/mL, respectively, and exhibited five times more effective than erythromycin (standard antibiotic).

Genetic diversity patterns of rice (Oryza sativa L.) landraces after migration by Tai Lue and Akha between China and Thailand

Cultivated 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.