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Understorey herbs form a diverse and understudied plant assemblage in tropical forests. Although several studies and research teams have long been dedicated to the study of this conspicuous vegetation component in Amazonia, no effort to unify the data has been undertaken to date. In contrast to trees and other life forms for which major data compilations already exist, a unified database dedicated to herbs is still lacking. Part of the problem is in defining what is a herb and how to effectively sample herb assemblages. In this article, we describe the database HERBase, an exhaustive compilation of published and unpublished data on herb inventories in Amazonia. We also describe the structure, functioning, and guidelines for data curation and integration in HERBase. We were able to compile information from 1381 plots from all six Amazonian geographic regions. Based on this dataset, we describe and discuss sampling and knowledge gaps, priority areas for new collections, and recommend sampling protocols to facilitate data integration in the future. This novel database provides a unique biodiversity data repository on understorey herbs that will enable new studies on community ecology and biogeography.

Funding: Floristic identification in plots in the RAINFOR forest monitoring network have been supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (grants NE/B503384/1, NE/ D01025X/1, NE/I02982X/1, NE/F005806/1, NE/D005590/1 and NE/I028122/1) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain eight times more of local relative abundances than constraints based on directional selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative insight by inference from large-scale data using cross-disciplinary methods, furthering our understanding of ecological dynamics. Publisher PDF

Rice is a keystone crop in all Maroon communities in Suriname and French Guyana today and they cultivate hundreds of traditional varieties. Historically, rice can be considered an indicator crop for successful marronnage in the Guianas. Unraveling local variety names can reveal the history, farming systems, spiritual significance and probably the diversity of rice in Maroon communities. We interviewed 67 rice farmers (96% female), collected over 400 rice specimens and built a database with 284 unique rice names from our own fieldwork and previously collected names. The process of naming a rice variety is complex, but there are recurrent patterns among the five Maroon groups we studied. We categorized names referring to morphology, agronomy, animals, humans, and rice brought from specific regions or by other Maroon and non-Maroon groups. Very few names are shared between Maroon groups. When we showed the farmers six rice varieties from outside their village, all recognized African rice (Oryza glaberrima) and pende (O. sativa with spotted husks). When a variety was unknown, an initial name was given based on its morphology. Maroon rice names are truly unique as they reflect the varieties that were available, the history of plantations and marronnage, climate aspects that influenced the selection of farmers, the many separate groups of runaways joining the Maroons, the adaptation to the Amazonian ecosystem, and their contacts with outsiders. Our results show that unravelling Maroon rice names leads to a better understanding of the close connection between the process of marronage, locally developed agricultural practices, and connections to West Africa. These historical origins continue to exist and form a unique Maroon system of variety exchange, farm management and crop diversity.

Given the few written documents left behind by those who escaped slavery, the analysis of African agency in the transfer of crops and knowledge in the successful establishment of Maroon communities benefits from other disciplines, such as oral history, ethnobotany and linguistics. Here we report the histories of several enslaved women, who escaped in the early periods of slave rebellion in Suriname. They played a crucial role in ensuring food security for their runaway communities by bringing rice seeds hidden in their hair. We combined information from ethnobotanical surveys, Maroon oral history, archival documents and published accounts to show how Maroon farmers safeguard their agricultural diversity and cultural heritage by cultivating rice varieties that still carry the names of their female ancestors who took along these seeds during their flight to freedom. We trace the routes of the Saramaccan ancestors Sééi, Yaya and Paánza, Tjowa of the Matawai, Sapali, Ana and Bapi of the Aucans, and describe the rice varieties named after them. The legends of these female ancestors acknowledge the importance of women in Maroon survival. Maroon women’s agricultural knowledge probably contains much more neglected oral history on how their ancestors obtained food crops from plantations or Amerindians.

By the mid-seventeenth century, images of natural elements that originated in Dutch Brazil circulated in Europe. These were often included in art collections (theLibri Picturati), and natural history treatises (theHistoria Naturalis Brasiliaeand theIndia Utriesque re Naturale et Medica). The plant woodcut images in these books constituted (icono) type specimens and played a significant role in the transmission of (botanical) knowledge. We present a systematic analysis of their origins by cross-referencing the visual and textual sources related to Dutch Brazil. To do so, we used the scientific identifications of the portrayed plants and digital archival material. The plant woodcuts accounted for 529 images, which correspond to 426 taxa. We created a PDF booklet to visualize the correlations of the woodcuts with theLibri Picturatiand other visual sources. Substantial differences in the visual-making methodology exist between the two treatises (1648, 1658). Overall, availability, economy, and the Indigenous Tupi-based plant names that accompanied the images were crucial when arranging the sources, as well as portraying as much botanical information as possible.Freshly picked, living plants, and dried branches, fruits, and seeds were used to represent the megadiverse Brazilian flora, even when these belonged to species originating from other regions. Despite not being recognized for their contribution, Indigenous Brazilians and enslaved Africans were essential in the visual knowledge-making processes that later resulted in these natural history collections. As several sources remain lost and many histories yet untold, further archival studies and collaborative projects are pertinent to reveal the missing pieces of this conundrum.

The history of the tomato’s interactions with humans spans both a pre-Columbian period of millennia of cultivation and domestication in South and Central America as well as the plant’s rise to becoming one of the world’s major cash crops following the arrival of Europeans in the Neotropics and the subsequent Columbian Exchange. In the process, the influence of successive regimes of artificial selection gave rise to an entangled species complex comprised of a wild ancestor and numerous cultivars exhibiting a great diversity of fruit phenotypes (often sorted in ‘cherry’ and big types). Here, we provide a snapshot into these dynamics by presenting the ancient nuclear and plastid genomes of one of the oldest tomatoes still in existence: the almost half a millennium old En Tibi specimen from the Italian Renaissance. By placing the genome skimming data obtained from this specimen within the phylogenomic context of wild relatives and Neotropical tomato cultivars and land races, we are able to show that the most likely geographic origins of the specimen’s immediate ancestors, i.e. whence the exchange of this particular lineage originated, are around the Gulf of Mexico. We also show that this specimen was less inbred than present-day tomatoes, shedding light on the genomic signatures of historical domestication processes. Probing deeper into the ancestry that shaped extant genetic diversity within the complex, we reconstruct multiple ancestral populations with diffuse but distinct signatures in cherry and big tomatoes. The geographic structure of these ancestries within the nearest wild relative of tomatoes and the differential extent to which these ancestries are represented in domesticates points to early cultivation and human-assisted dispersal of tomatoes originating from the northern extreme of the natural range of the species. Our findings illustrate the inferences that can be drawn from ancient DNA extracted from herbarium specimens and historic plant collections. At the same time, we stress that our findings draw on multiple disciplines including ethnobotanical and historical research and on the (agri)cultural contributions of a variety of world cultures.

In his 1959 book, Africa: Its Peoples and Their Culture History, George P. Murdock suggested that a Malaysian complex of crops dispersed to Africa in ancient times across the Indian Ocean along the Sabaean Lane. The Malaysian complex comprised bananas, sugarcane, taro, three yam species, rice, Polynesian arrowroot, breadfruit, coconut, areca palm, and betel leaf. Except for rice, arrowroot, and potentially taro, most of these crops were domesticated in the Island Southeast Asia-New Guinea region, from where they dispersed to Africa. Our reassessment of agronomic, archaeological, classical, genetic, and historical sources shows that we need to go beneath standard historical narratives to recover a much more ancient and complex history of crop introductions to Africa. Despite considerable uncertainty and fragmented research, we were able to conclude that the Malaysian complex of crops did not arrive in Africa as a complete assemblage at one time or along one route. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that these crops arrived in Africa at different times and followed different pathways of introduction to the continent.

Tulipa sylvestris, commonly called the “wild tulip”, was introduced from the Mediterranean to northern Europe in the sixteenth century and became widely naturalized. Research has focused on tulips that came from the Orient, but the introduction path of this native European, early ornamental tulip is unclear, and so is its taxonomic status: three subspecies are provisionally accepted, sometimes treated as species. Here we elucidate the history of introduction of T. sylvestris and discuss its taxonomy based on our historical findings. The first bulbs came from Bologna (northern Italy) and Montpellier (southern France) in the 1550s-1570s. Several renown botanists were involved in their introduction, namely Gessner, Wieland, Aldrovandi, De Lobel, Clusius, and Dodoens. There were various introduction routes, including one from Spain which was apparently unsuccessful. The strong sixteenth-century Flemish botanical network facilitated the introduction and naturalization of T. sylvestris across Europe. Based on the latest tulip taxonomy, the diploid subspecies australis is native in the Mediterranean, and the tetraploid sylvestris is naturalized over Europe, but our historical findings show that both sylvestris and australis were introduced. This underlines the need to reconsider the taxonomic status of T. sylvestris, highlighting the importance of botanical history in understanding the complex taxonomy of naturalized cultivated plants.

BackgroundSoon after the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the first tomatoes were presented as curiosities to the European royals and drew the attention of sixteenth-century Italian naturalists. Despite of their scientific interest in this New World crop, most Renaissance botanists did not specify where these ‘golden apples’ or ‘pomi d’oro’ came from. The debate on the first European tomatoes and their origin is often hindered by erroneous dating, botanical misidentifications and inaccessible historical sources. The discovery of a tomato specimen in the sixteenth-century ‘En Tibi herbarium’ kept at Leiden, the Netherlands led to claims that its DNA would reveal the ‘original’ taste and pest resistance of early tomatoes.MethodsRecent digitization efforts greatly facilitate research on historic botanical sources. Here we provide an overview of the ten remaining sixteenth-century tomato specimens, early descriptions and 13 illustrations. Several were never published before, revealing what these tomatoes looked like, who saw them, and where they came from.ResultsOur survey shows that the earliest tomatoes in Europe came in a much wider variety of colors, shapes and sizes than previously thought, with both simple and fasciated flowers, round and segmented fruits. Pietro Andrea Matthioli gave the first description of a tomato in 1544, and the oldest specimens were collected by Ulisse Aldrovandi and Francesco Petrollini in c. 1551 from plants grown in the Pisa botanical garden by their teacher Luca Ghini. The oldest illustrations were made in Germany in the early 1550s, but the Flemish Rembert Dodoens published the first image in 1553. The names of early tomatoes in contemporary manuscripts suggest both a Mexican and a Peruvian origin. The ‘En Tibi’ specimen was collected by Petrollini around Bologna in 1558 and thus is not the oldest extant tomato. Although only 1.2% of its DNA was readable, recent molecular research shows that the En Tibi tomato was a fully domesticated, but quite heterozygous individual and genetically close to three Mexican and two Peruvian tomato landraces. Molecular research on the other sixteenth-century tomato specimens may reveal other patterns of genetic similarity and geographic origin. Clues on the ‘historic’ taste and pest resistance of the sixteenth-century tomatoes should not be searched in their degraded DNA, but rather in those landraces in Central and South America that are genetically close to them. The indigenous farmers growing these traditional varieties should be supported to conserve these heirloom varieties in-situ.

The sixteenth century was a golden age for botany, a time when numerous naturalists devoted themselves to the study and documentation of plant diversity. A very prominent figure among them was the German physician, botanist, and traveler Leonhard Rauwolf (1535?–1596), famous for his travel account and luxurious book herbarium containing plants from the Near East. Here, we focus on the less studied, early book herbaria of Rauwolf. These form a three-volume plant collection bound in leather and gold, which contains over 600 plants that Rauwolf collected between 1560 and 1563 in S. France and N. Italy when he was a student of medicine. We show the botanical value of Rauwolf’s early book herbaria, exemplified by two exotic American specimens, namely one of the oldest surviving specimens of tobacco (Nicotiana rustica), collected in Italy, and the oldest known French record of prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica). These well-preserved specimens indicate that Rauwolf was eager to collect exotic plants already in his early botanical steps. We further discuss Rauwolf’s professional botanical network during his student years and suggest that the famous Swiss botanist Johann Bauhin (1541–1613), friend and companion of Rauwolf during his field excursions and their medical studies in Montpellier, has played a significant role in the compilation of this precious historical plant collection. We also show that Leonhart Fuchs (and not Carolus Clusius) extensively annotated the three book herbaria. Finally, we reconstruct the story of making of the book herbaria, as evidenced through observations of paper watermarks and handwritten texts in the book volumes, and show that all four book herbaria of Rauwolf were probably bound between 1577 and 1582.

The Mediterranean region, including 24 countries at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and Asia, has a strong culinary tradition shaped through the rich Mediterranean biological and cultural diversity. In this chapter, the variety of culinary aromatic herb species used in the region, their geographical distribution, morphology, essential oils, and culinary applications in Mediterranean countries are documented. The most commonly used aromatic herbs in Mediterranean cookery are parsley, mint, laurel, oregano, thyme, rosemary, coriander, dill, basil, tarragon, chives, sage, marjoram, fennel, and chervil, most of them members of the Lamiaceae and Apiaceae families. Mint, sage, pennyroyal, mountain tea, and several oregano and thyme species are popular herbal teas. Mint, basil, lavender, rosemary, and laurel are sometimes used to aromatize sweet-flavored dishes. Historical uses of culinary herbs in the Mediterranean (ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome) are also discussed. Besides their local culinary importance, Mediterranean aromatic herbs are also part of the international herb trade. Several to numerous botanical species with different essential oil characteristics (and thus different aroma, taste, and biological activity) underlie the commercial names oregano, thyme, mountain tea, mint, and sage. It is suggested that herbal products traded under these names are botanically identified and characterized about their main essential oil compounds so that quality standards are kept. Controlling overharvesting and systematizing the cultivation of wild-collected species will help prevent overexploitation of local plant resources.

In tropical rainforests, access to and availability of natural resources are vital for the dietary diversity and food security of forest-dwelling societies. In the Congo Basin, these are challenged by the increasing exploitation of forests for bushmeat, commercial hardwood, mining, and large-scale agriculture. In this context, a balanced approach is needed between the pressures from forest exploitation, non-timber forest product trade and the livelihood and dietary behavior of rural communities. While there is a general positive association between tree cover and dietary diversity, the complex biocultural interactions between tropical forest food resources and the communities they sustain are still understudied. This research focuses on the knowledge and use of wild food plants by the forest-dwelling Baka people in southeast Cameroon. By using two different sets of methods, namely ex-situ interviews and in-situ surveys, we collected ethnographic and ethnobotanical data in two Baka settlements and explored the diversity of wild edible plants known, the frequency of their consumption, and potential conflicts between local diet and commercial trade in forest resources. Within a single Baka population, we showed that the in-situ walk-in-the-woods method resulted in more detailed information on wild food plant knowledge and use frequency than the ex-situ methods of freelisting and dietary recalls. Our in-situ method yielded 91 wild edible species, much more than the ex-situ freelisting interviews (38 spp.) and dietary recalls (12 spp.). Our results suggest that studies that are based only on ex-situ interviews may underestimate the importance of wild food plants for local communities. We discuss the limitations and strengths of these different methods for investigating the diversity of wild food plant knowledge and uses. Our analysis shows that future studies on wild food plants would profit from a mixed approach that combines in-situ and ex-situ methods.

Some 35,000 indentured laborers from India were recruited to work on plantations in Suriname after 1863. Many of them started to grow rice for their subsistence, but were stimulated to replace their traditional landraces for improved cultivars. Few Hindostani smallholders still cultivate rice today, and little is known on their varieties or motivations to continue or abandon this crop. We interviewed 30 persons currently or formerly involved in small-scale Hindostani rice farming, collected rice varieties and documented people’s personal memories and motivation for rice cultivation. In the historic literature, ca. 16 varieties were mentioned to be grown by Indian contract laborers, of which nine were remembered by our interviewees. We recorded 55 variety names, their agronomical and culinary characteristics, geographic origin, and (former) cultivation localities. Most active smallholders grew cultivars developed after 2000, but one landrace (Raymoen) and some old cultivars developed in the 1930-1950s (Rexora and Dima) were still grown for fodder, although heavily adulterated with weedy rice. Maroon farmers in the interior, however, cultivated several varieties of ‘coolie rice’ that they obtained from Hindostani farmers in the past, although this needs to be confirmed by molecular research. Small-scale rice farming in Suriname is declining due to competition with large-scale cultivators, urbanization, better education prospects and migration to the Netherlands. The vivid memories of the (former) rice farmers on traditional practices, gender-based labor division and how rice farming is integrated in the system of beliefs, as well as the few remaining varieties that potentially originated in India, deserve to be better safeguarded and shared with the public than they are today.

The Municipal Museum of Zierikzee houses a loose-leafed herbarium containing 360 dried plant specimens, of which the provenance, age and maker were until recently unknown. By studying the plant specimens, paper, decorations and labels, an image was conveyed of an early 18th century herbarium that matched the description of a herbarium from the legacy of Jakob Ligtvoet, who was gardener in the Leiden Hortus botanicus from 1703 till his death in 1752. This herbarium is one of the oldest garden herbaria of its kind and contains 306 unique species, of which 201 are currently native to the Netherlands. Exotic species come from the Mediterranean (82 spp.), Europe (24), South Africa (8), the Americas (9) and in tropical Asia (7). Based on our comparison of names on the oldest labels, this collection of dried plants was probably started after publication of the first garden catalogue by the prefect of the Leiden garden and professor of botany Herman Boerhaave (1710), but before the second edition in 1719. This historic herbarium reflects the state-of-the-art of botanical science and the international network of Dutch botanical gardens in the early 18th century.

Freelisting and dietary recalls are frequently used methods in ethnobotany to assess wild edible plant (WEP) knowledge and use. Though these ex-situ interviewing methods are practical to perform and may yield large datasets in a short time, they are known to be limited by the informant’s memory and cognitive bias. Alternatively, the much more laborious walk-in-the-woods method may be used, in which informants point out edible plants in-situ. Few studies, however, examine quantitatively how these different methods influence results. In this study, we assessed how these methods capture the diversity of wild edible plant knowledge and use among the Baka, a group of forager-horticulturalists from southeastern Cameroon. We show that within a single population, and when data on consumption frequency are collected simultaneously, the walk-in-the-woods method results in more detailed information of WEP knowledge and use than do freelisting or dietary recalls. Our in-situ method yielded 91 species of WEP, much more than the ex-situ methods of freelisting (34 spp.) and dietary recalls (12 spp.). Our results imply that previous studies based only on ex situ surveys may have underestimated the importance of WEP for local communities. We propose that future studies on WEP knowledge and use frequency should rely on mixed methods, taking an in-situ method as the starting point of their approach.

Traditional gastronomy and cuisine play an important role in building national and personal identities. In an era of globalization of food systems and dietary patterns where transnational food companies are rapidly expanding in Sub-Saharan Africa, and there is a risk that national differences blur and fade away, communities can keep a strong and confident sense of their identity and culture. Preserving culinary knowledge helps to preserve genetic diversity and it is also essential to maintain and strengthen ethnic and cultural identities. During a study on taro cultivars, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, conducted in Southwest, Northwest and West Cameroon, local farmers mentioned a traditional dish known as Achu made by pounding taro corms into a dough-type paste, which is accompanied by different sauces. To document the culinary heritage associated to this popular dish, we asked farmers to show a step-by-step preparation of Achu, identify different ingredients and explain why these were included. We recorded the preparation of this traditional meal with pictures that we report here with the original recipe.

A lectotype from the Calkoen collection in Naturalis Biodiversity Center, The Netherlands, is designated for Histioea cepheus cepheus (Erebidae: Arctiinae) and the life history is described from the Brownsberg Nature Reserve, Suriname. A cluster of 26 eggs was observed on Olyra latifolia (Poaceae). The first instar larvae moved off the plant and were reared on Mikania cf. micrantha (Asteraceae). Dense A1 and A7 setal tufts, such as previously found in last instar Holophaea vesta, are present in H. c. cepheus from the fourth instar onwards.

Ethnopharmacological relevanceFrom 1640–1796, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) occupied the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Several VOC officers had a keen interest in the medicinal application of the local flora. The Leiden University Library holds a two-piece codexentitled: Icones Plantarum Malabaricarum, adscriptis nominibus et viribus, Vol. I. & II. (Illustrations of Plants from the Malabar, assigned names and strength). This manuscript contains 262 watercolour drawings of medicinal plants from Sri Lanka, with handwritten descriptions of local names, habitus, medicinal properties and therapeutic applications. This anonymous document had never been studied previously.Aim of the studyTo identify all depicted plant specimens, decipher the text, trace the author, and analyse the scientific relevance of this manuscript as well as its importance for Sri Lankan ethnobotany.Materials and methodsWe digitised the entire manuscript, transcribed and translated the handwritten Dutch texts and identified the depicted species using historic and modern literature, herbarium vouchers, online databases on Sri Lankan herbal medicine and 41 botanical drawings by the same artist in the Artis library, Amsterdam. We traced the origin of the manuscript by means of watermark analysis and historical literature. We compared the historic Sinhalese and Tamil names in the manuscript to recent plant names in ethnobotanical references from Sri Lanka and southern India. We published the entire manuscript online with translations and identifications.ResultsThe watermarks indicate that the paper was made between 1694 and 1718. The handwriting is of a VOC scribe. In total, ca. 252 taxa are depicted, of which we could identify 221 to species level. The drawings represent mainly native species, including Sri Lankan endemics, but also introduced medicinal and ornamental plants. Lamiaceae, Zingiberaceae and Leguminosae were the best-represented families. Frequently mentioned applications were to purify the blood and to treat gastro-intestinal problems, fever and snakebites. Many plants are characterised by their humoral properties, of which ‘warming’ is the most prevalent. Plant species were mostly used for their roots (28%), bark (16%) or leaves (11%). More Tamil names (260) were documented than Sinhalese (208). More than half of the Tamil names and 36% of the Sinhalese names are still used today. The author was probably a VOC surgeon based in northern Sri Lanka, who travelled around the island to document medicinal plant use. Less than half of the species were previously documented from Ceylon by the famous VOC doctor and botanist Paul Hermann in the 1670s. Further archival research is needed to identify the maker of this manuscript.ConclusionsAlthough the maker of this early 18th century manuscript remains unknown, the detailed, 300-year-old information on medicinal plant use in the Icones Plantarum Malabaricarum represents an important ethnobotanical treasure for Sri Lanka, which offers ample opportunities to study changes and continuation of medicinal plant names and practices over time.

Until recently, taro Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, was considered a neglected food crop due to its low palatability and inferior value compared to other root crops such as cassava, potatoes and yams. Under the impulse of new studies on plant dispersal, and in light of the severe threats posed by pests to its conservation status, this crop has finally received more attention. However, there is still insufficient knowledge on specific cultivars and their culinary and medicinal uses, especially in Africa. We studied the agrodiversity of taro cultivars in Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Tanzania. Here, we present ethnobotanical, morphological and linguistic data of 20 taro cultivars, as well as specific notes on abandoned landraces. These traditional varieties represent valuable genetic resources and can be instrumental in protecting taro from the genetic erosion caused by preference for yautia, and diseases such as the leaf blight. With this work, we call for renewed efforts to conserve this species and its landraces.

Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) is a tropical plant of Asian origin, which is now extensively cultivated in Africa, with Nigeria and Cameroon providing 60% of the worldwide production. Despite the economic role and long history of taro in Africa, there is no structured information available on the morphological diversity, cultivation, trade, culinary, and medicinal uses associated with this crop in Africa. This paper presents the results of a literature review of taro in Africa using the references stored in the Prelude database of African medicinal plants, to provide a more comprehensive picture of the current scientific knowledge on the utilization of this crop. Our results include information found in the African floras, published papers, as well as in the gray literature sources, and they show that taro is not only a food crop known under a large diversity of names that vary by region, but it is also widely used as a medicinal plant to cure human and animal diseases. The many local names applied to taro almost never have a correspondent morphological description in the literature. Combined genetic and ethnobotanical studies of this crop in Africa are needed to link cultivars to cultivation techniques, medicinal and culinary uses.

The diversity of bryophyte and lichen collections in 9 of the oldest preserved herbaria (dating from ca 1542 to 1577) was compared, including the first reports of bryophytes and lichens from the ‘En Tibi’ herbarium (possibly 1542–1544) and the herbarium of Leonhard Rauwolf (1560–1563). Bryophytes and lichens formed only a minority in each herbarium compared to the numbers of vascular plant specimens; numbers ranged from representatives of 21 genera in the herbarium of Ulisse Aldrovandi to the single genus Conocephalum in the Rauwolf herbarium. The focus was on large, handsome species of bryophytes and macrolichens, apart from small amounts of additional species collected as ‘by-catch’ in mixed collections. All herbaria together included 34 genera of bryophytes (36 species and 10 specimens identified to genus level) and 13 genera of lichens (24 species and 4 specimens identified to genus level). The diversity of mosses was higher than that of liverworts, and pleurocarpous mosses were more diverse than acro...

TheHistoria Naturalis Brasiliae(HNB, 1648) is the most complete treatise on Brazilian flora and fauna created in the seventeenth century. Scientists Marcgrave and Piso depicted hundreds of plants and described uses, vernacular names, and diseases in Dutch Brazil. We aimed to verify whether these plants are still used similarly, using herbarium vouchers and taxonomic literature to identify the species described in the HNB and reviewing historical and modern ethnobotanical literature to analyze whether the HNB documented specific plants and uses for the northeast region. We highlighted Old World species, as they indicate plant introduction before and during the trans-Atlantic slave trade and exchange of African ethnobotanical knowledge. Of the 378 species found in the HNB, 256 (68%) were useful, mostly used for healing and food in a similar way (80%) both in the seventeenth century and in modern Brazil. Only one species (Swartzia pickelii) is endemic to northeast Brazil, while the others are more widely distributed. The HNB includes one of the first reports on African crops in Brazil, such as sesame, okra, and spider plant. This study brings insights on indigenous and African plant knowledge retentions since the creation of the HNB and acknowledges its non-European contributors.

Background: When entering primary school, children of remote rural areas have less time to learn about traditional plant uses. In a case study conducted among Saramaccan Maroons in Suriname, we tried to find out how a biology classroom assignment conducted among primary school children could contribute to the conservation of traditional knowledge. Methods: 73 pupils received a homework assignment for which they needed to bring one medicinal plant to school and collect ethnobotanical information about the use. We conducted a content analysis to investigate the type of knowledge generated by the pupils and examined the assignment cards on use of (different) languages. Results: Family members (mostly mothers) shared mainly knowledge on the treatment of physical ailments such as skin fungi, headache, hypertension, stomachache, eye-infections or baby care . Plant use for baby care and women’s health seemed to be primarily shared with girls. Most of the 36 species, were herbs from the disturbed vegetation. Next to Saramaccan, plant names were provided in Sranantongo and Surinamese-Dutch, especially the cultivated species. Conclusions: Our method generated information on physical health issues that occur regularly in the village for which they use common plant species. Spelling of vernacular names and translation of health issues from Saramaccan into Dutch was a challenge, indicating a gap between the official school curriculum (in Dutch), traditional Maroon knowledge and literacy in Saramaccan. The method could be developed further to be used at schools to safeguard traditional knowledge and enhance the intergenerational dialogue on medicinal plants.

The Caribbean islands are considered a biodiversity hotspot, with high levels of endemism but also extreme levels of habitat loss. One factor causing local extinction or species scarcity is plant extraction by humans. Very few recent ethnobotanical studies exist for the Dutch Caribbean. We aimed to make a rapid sustainability assessment of wild plant harvesting on the island of St. Eustatius. A quantitative inventory of 11 plots (25 × 25 m) was carried out to obtain abundance data on wild plants, and 31 interviews were conducted to collect information on wild plant uses, extraction methods, and harvesting locations. In total, our respondents mentioned 181 useful plant species of which 66 were harvested exclusively from the wild. Four of these (Melocactus intortus (Mill.) Urb., Nectandra coriacea (Sw.) Griseb., Pilosocereus royenii (L.) Byles & G. D. Rowley, and Chiococca alba (L.) Hitchc.) may encounter sustainability problems in the future or might suffer from overharvesting already, as they do not survive harvesting and occur in low numbers in protected areas only. For the majority of wild species on St. Eustatius, plant extraction does not form an immediate threat to their survival. Several wild species are cultivated in gardens. Further population studies on the four shortlisted species are needed to calculate sustainable harvest levels and design adequate management plans for their survival in the future.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Around 1800, Amsterdam was a global trade hub for materia medica of Dutch, European and exotic origin. Contemporary knowledge on medicinal plants in academic circles has been well documented in local pharmacopoeia, illustrated herbals and catalogues of botanic gardens. Until the end of the ancient regime, physicians, surgeons and apothecaries were trained how to use plants in their specific guild or Collegium Medicum. Little is known, however, on how the plant collectors and merchants that provided the pharmaceutical substances to apothecaries learnt to recognise the variety of medicinal products. Aim of the study To analyse the content, origin, purpose and scientific importance of an anonymous, undated, hand-written Dutch manuscript on materia medica, entitled Corpora ex Regno Vegetabili/Animali (Bodies of the Plant/Animal kingdom) kept by the Artis Library of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Materials and methods We digitised the entire manuscript and dated the paper by means of its watermark. We identified the plant and animal species using the historic Dutch and Latin names, the illustrations and historic literature. We compared the plant properties and uses to contemporary literature to check whether the information in the manuscript was original or copied from another source. Results The paper was produced between 1759 and 1816 in Zaandam, the Netherlands. The manuscript contains 19 substances of animal origin, one mineral and 273 plants and plant-derived products, which belong to ca. 260 species. While most plants are native or cultivated in the Netherlands, 111 plant entries (105 spp.) represent exotic products, imported from as far as Madagascar and Australia. A total of 134 illustrations were cut out from a 1549 Dutch edition of the New Herbal by Leonhard Fuchs (1543), but only 69% correspond to the correct species. The manuscript contains detailed descriptions on growth locations, field characteristics, flowering season, provenance and quality of the medicinal products, including methods to detect forgery. The author mostly described humoral properties of the plants rather than listing medicinal recipes. We did not find evidence that he copied his texts from other sources, but the Dutch and Latin names correspond largely with the Amsterdam pharmacopoeia from 1795. Conclusions The author's extensive knowledge on trade names, quality and origin of materia medica and his refrain from using literature suggests he could have been a merchant, an intermediary between herb cultivators, overseas traders and apothecaries. This manuscript offers a unique insight in the global trade in medicinal products and the circulation of knowledge in non-academic circles around 1800.

EnslavedAfricans inSurinamefacednotonlyaharshenvironmentandbrutal conditions,but the challenge of sourcing therapeutically useful plants in an unfamiliar land. Howdid they discovermedicinal herbs in the NewWorld? Literature suggests that slave medicine was already well developed in eighteenth-century Suriname, while herbaria prove that Old World plants were present since 1687. Current vernacular plant names reveal European,Amerindian andAfrican influence. Ethnobotanical research among present-day Afro-Surinamers and related West African groups demonstrates that although most plants used by Afro-Surinamers are Neotropical, preparation methods and applications are still veryAfrican. This illustrates thedurability andpersistenceof householdmedicinedespite thedisruptionduring theMiddlePassage.Afro-Surinamershave reinvented their householdmedicinebyusing familiar OldWorld plants, selecting NewWorld plants that were related to African ones, incorporating knowledge of other ethnic groups and deploying trial and error.

Ethnopharmacological relevance In Tanzania, traditional medicine plays a significant role in health care and local economies based on the harvesting, trade and sale of medicinal plant products. The majority of this plant material is said to originate from wild sources, and both traditional healers and vendors are concerned about the increasing scarcity of certain species. Aim of the study A market survey of non-powdered, non-woody medicinal plants was conducted at Kariakoo Market in Dar es Salaam, the major hub for medicinal plant trade in Tanzania, to assess sustainability of traded herbal medicine. Materials and Methods For this study, fresh and dried herbs, seeds and fruits were collected and interviews were conducted to obtain information on vernacular names, preparation methods, monthly sales, uses and prices. Bundles of herbal medicine offered for sale were weighed and counted to calculate the value and volumes of daily stock at the market. Results A total of 71 medicinal plant products belonging to 62–67 different species from at least 41 different plant families were identified. We identified 45 plant products to species level, 20 products to genus level and four to family level. Plant species most encountered at the market were Suregada zanzibariensis, Myrothamnus flabellifolia and Sclerocarya birrea. The major use categories reported by the vendors were ritual purposes, digestive disorders and women's health. Annual sales are estimated to be in excess of 30 t and close to 200,000 USD, and trade in herbal medicine at Kariakoo Market provides subsistence income to many local vendors. Conclusions A large diversity of wild-harvested plant species is traded as medicinal products in Tanzania, including species listed on CITES Appendices. Identifying and monitoring temporal changes in availability per season and from year to year will reveal which species are most affected by this trade, and help relevant authorities in Tanzania to find alternative sources of income for dependent stakeholders and initiate targeted efforts to protect threatened plant species.

Ethnopharmacological relevance What are the minimum methodological and conceptual requirements for an ethnopharmacological field study? How can the results of ethnopharmacological field studies be reported so that researchers with different backgrounds can draw on the results and develop new research questions and projects? And how should these field data be presented to get accepted in a scientific journal such as the Journal of Ethnopharmacology? The objective of this commentary is to create a reference that covers the basic standards necessary during planning, conducting and reporting of field research. Materials and methods We focus on conducting and reporting ethnopharmacological field studies on medicinal plants or materia medica and associated knowledge of a specific people or region. The article highlights the most frequent problems and pitfalls, and draws on published literature, fieldwork experience, and extensive insights from peer-review of field studies. Results Research needs to be ethical and legal, and follow local and national regulations. Primary ethnopharmacological field data need to be collected and presented in a transparent and comprehensible way. In short this includes: 1) Relevant and concise research questions, 2) Thorough literature study encompassing all available information on the study site from different disciplines, 3) Appropriate methods to answer the research questions, 4) Proper plant use documentation, unambiguously linked to voucher specimens, and 5) Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the collected data, the latter relying on use-reports as basic units. Conclusion Although not exhaustive, we provide an overview of the necessary main issues to consider for field research and data reporting including a list of minimal standards and recommendations for best practices. For methodological details and how to correctly apply specific methods, we refer to further reading of suggested textbooks and methods manuals. Weckerle, Caroline S., et al. "Recommended standards for conducting and reporting ethnopharmacological field studies." Journal of ethnopharmacology 210 (2018): 125-132. © 2018. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.

Childhood and adolescence are important life stages for the acquisition of knowledge about non-timber forest products (NTFPs). We show at which stage in life traditional plant knowledge is learned and analyze whether cross-cultural ethnobotanical knowledge transmission takes place. We evaluate whether the degree of forest dependency influences ethnobotanical knowledge by comparing two indigenous communities in Suriname. Traditional knowledge was documented and vouchers collected during forest walks with adult informants. Questionnaires were completed by 74 schoolchildren (age 4 to 14) to capture their knowledge of names and uses of nine important NTFPs. We tested for knowledge differences by ethnicity and NTFP categories. Local names for NTFPs were analyzed to determine cross-cultural transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge. Children from the forest-dependent Trio community (De jeugd en pubertijd zijn belangrijke levensfasen voor het verwerven van kennis over Niet-Hout Bosproducten (NTFP’s) bij bewoners van het Amazonegebied. Dit onderzoek had als doel te achterhalen in welke levensjaren traditionele plantenkennis wordt toegeëigend en of er ethnobotanische kennis wordt uitgewisseld tussen twee Inheemse gemeenschappen in Suriname. Verwacht werd dat de afhankelijkheid van het bos de hoeveelheid ethnobotanische kennis beïnvloedt. Tijdens boswandelingen met volwassen informanten is traditionele kennis over NTFPs gedocumenteerd en zijn er botanische specimens verzameld. Door 74 schoolgaande kinderen (4 tot 14 jaar) zijn vragenlijsten ingevuld om hun kennis te achterhalen over lokale namen en toepassingen van negen belangrijke NTFP soorten. Het verschil in kennis werd vergeleken tussen twee ethnische groepen en NTFP-categorieën (eetbaar en medicinaal). Lokale namen voor NTFP’s werden geanalyseerd om overdracht van ethnobotanische kennis tussen de gemeenschappen te bepalen. Tegen de verwachting in hadden kinderen uit de bosafhankelijke Trio-gemeenschap (

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Livestock production is an integral part of the agricultural system in Ethiopia. Medicinal plants are used and are important for rural communities for the treatment of livestock diseases. We studied and analysed the traditional medicinal plants used for the treatment of livestock diseases by the Maale and An ethnic communities in southern Ethiopia. Materials and methods: We used quantitative and qualitative ethobotanical methods, including individual and focus group discussions (n=18), field observations, and individual interviews (n=74) at three study sites. Results: In total, 46 plant species (28 families) were used for the treatment of livestock diseases. Leaves with succulent stems were the most used part of the plant. The most frequently cited cattle disease was blackleg, for which 21 plant species were used. Our study showed variation in ethnoveterinary plant species used among sites (laccard's similarity indices

The National Herbarium of the Netherlands houses a 17th century, bound herbarium containing 51 dried specimens from Suriname, which was composed by the well-known botanist Paul Hermann (1646-1695). This is considered as the old- est documented herbarium collection not only for Suriname but for the Guianas region. Most specimens are accompanied by (pre-Linnaean) Latin or vernacular names and sometimes by Latin descriptions of the plants and their uses. To assess the importance of this collection for the present-day flora and ethnobotany of Suriname, we identified all specimens (one by using ancient DNA analysis), translated the Latin texts, traced back the origin of the herbarium in national archives, 17th century and modern literature and compared plant names and uses with present-day ethnobotanical data. We digitized the entire herbarium and made it available online (http://www.hermann-herbarium.nl). The specimens were probably collected around 1687 by a certain Hendrik Meyer, who had a keen interest in botany and indigenous plant use. The 48 species in the herbarium are almost all useful plants: cultivated crops, wild edible fruits, medicinal plants, timber trees, fish poison, colorants and roof thatch mate- rial. Most species are used similarly today, and more than half of the vernacular names still exist in the region. The presence of Abelmoschus esculentus and Sesamum indicum in the herbarium prove the early establishment of African food plants in the emerging plantation economy of Suriname. Unlike Hermann's collections from Ceylon and the Cape, this herbarium was never seen by Linnaeus and therefore does not contain any type specimens.

African rice (Oryza glaberrima) and African cultivation practices are said to have influenced emerging colonial plantation economies in the Americas 1,2. However, the level of impact of African rice practices is difficult to establish because of limited written or botanical records 2,3. Recent findings of O. glaberrima in rice fields of Suriname Maroons bear evidence of the high level of knowledge about rice among African slaves and their descendants, who consecrate it in ancestor rituals 4,5. Here we establish the strong similarity, and hence likely origin, of the first extant New World landrace of O. glaberrima to landraces from the Upper Guinean forests in West Africa. We collected African rice from a Maroon market in Paramaribo, Suriname, propagated it, sequenced its genome 6 and compared it with genomes of 109 accessions representing O. glaberrima diversity across West Africa. By analysing 1,649,769 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in clustering analyses, the Suriname sample appears sister to an Ivory Coast landrace, and shows no evidence of introgression from Asian rice. Whereas the Dutch took most slaves from Ghana, Benin and Central Africa 7, the diaries of slave ship captains record the purchase of food for provisions when sailing along the West African Coast 8, offering one possible explanation for the patterns of genetic similarity. This study demonstrates the utility of genomics in understanding the largely unwritten histories of crop cultures of diaspora communities.

The recent English translation of the diary of the Swedish naturalist Daniel Rolander (written 1754-1756) reveals the earliest records on useful plants of Suriname. Since he did not grant Linnaeus access to his specimens, Rolander never received credit for his work, part of his collection was lost, and his diary never published. Here we compare Rolander's notes with recent ethnobotanical data from the Guianas and discuss how plant use has changed in the past 250 years. All species names in the diary with (potential) uses were updated to their current taxonomic status by using modern and historical literature, digitized Rolander specimens, herbarium collections and online nomenclatural databases. Rolander's diary lists uses for 263 plant names (228-242 spp.). Major use categories are medicine (109 spp.) and food (107 spp.). About 86% of these species are still used in Suriname today, 54% similarly as in the 1750s. Greatest correspondence was found among cultivated food crops, timber and ornamental species. Living conditions in Suriname have greatly improved since 1755, so much ancient famine food is now forgotten; while then popular fruits have become 'emergency food' today. Although ideas about health and illness have changed over the past centuries, uses have remained unchanged for 36% of the medicinal species. Rolander's diary contains first-hand observations on how plant uses were discovered, and how this knowledge was accumulated, transferred or kept secret in an 18th-century slave society. It represents one of the few historical sources that document the transfer of ethnobotanical knowledge among Amerindians, Europeans and Africans, as well as the trial-and-error process by which the enslaved Africans learned to use a new, American flora. (Less)

As climbing plants lack the capacity to hold themselves upright, they need to encounter a suitable host. Vines, lianas, and secondary hemiepiphytes need, therefore, an effective searching strategy. Various hypotheses have been put forward on searching strategies, including ‘skototropism’—growth toward darkness—and random searching. We studied host searching strategies of three secondary hemiepiphyte species belonging to the genus Heteropsis. We recorded information on the diameter distribution of host and evaluated whether these hosts were ‘suitable’,i.e., sufficiently tall for Heteropsis individuals to reach reproductive size. The diameter distribution of host trees bearing Heteropsis seedlings was similar to that of the trees in our study plots. Also, we found that 72–81 percent of the Heteropsis seedlings were present on unsuitable hosts (seedlings, saplings, herbs). These results suggest that Heteropsis seedlings search hosts in a random manner and not by skototropism. We found quite a distinct pattern for adult Heteropsis individuals, which predominantly occur on host trees bigger than 10 cm dbh. Host diameter distribution for Heteropsis adults differed significantly from that of the entire tree community. This difference suggests that Heteropsis individuals may change hosts if they are initially present on nonsuitable hosts. We observed that Heteropsis seedlings and juveniles on unsuitable hosts often produced vegetative shoots that searched for another host. In many cases, such shoots did not find a suitable host. For Heteropsis, our results suggest that host tree searching is a long-term trial and error process that is governed by a random searching strategy.

Abstarct African Rice (Oryza glaberrimaSteud.): Lost Crop of the Enslaved Africans Discovered in Suriname. African rice (Oryza glaberrima Steud.) was introduced to the Americas during the slave trade years and grown by enslaved Africans for decades before mechanical milling devices facilitated the shift towards Asian rice (O. sativa L.). Literature suggests that African rice is still grown in Guyana and French Guiana, but the most recent herbarium voucher dates from 1938. In this paper, evidence is presented that O. glaberrima is still grown by Saramaccan Maroons both for food and ritual uses. Saramaccan informants claim their forefathers collected their first “black rice” from a mysterious wild rice swamp and cultivated these seeds afterwards. Unmilled spikelets (grains with their husk still attached) are sold in small quantities for ancestor offerings, and even exported to the Netherlands to be used by Maroon immigrants. Little is known of the evolution of O. glaberrima, before and after domestication. Therefore, more research is needed on the different varieties of rice and other “lost crops” grown by these descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped from plantations in the 17th and 18th centuries and maintained much of their African cultural heritage in the deep rainforest.

The commercial harvest of herbal medicine to meet the growing urban demand has become an environmentally destructive activity in many countries. Non-sustainable harvesting not only threatens the survival of medicinal plant species, but also the people that depend on them. In Suriname, the urbanization of Maroons has created a lively trade in medicinal plants, but little is known on the ecological effects of this trade. To find out whether this commercial harvest was a destructive activity, we carried out a market survey and followed commercial extractors into the forest to look for signs of overharvesting. We analyzed our results from three perspectives: the market, the harvesters and the post-harvest survival of the particular plants. Of the 249 commercial species, less than half was harvested exclusively from the wild. Most extraction took place in secondary forest or man-made vegetation close to the capital. Leaves were the main product. Apart from a few primary forest-based species (e.g., Begonia glabra), we found little evidence for declining resources. Maroons were actively cultivating and managing wild plants. Our three-way analysis enabled us to distinguish between species without sustainability problems (abundant, domesticated, cultivated, limited market value, disturbance species or surviving harvest) and species with conservation priorities. This study illustrates that the increased commercialization of medicinal plants due to urbanization does not invariably lead to declining resources and species loss. With its low population density and market dominated by disturbance species, Suriname offers good possibilities for sustainable medicinal plant extraction.

Background Medicinal plants are traded as products with vernacular names, but these folk taxonomies do not always correspond one-to-one with scientific plant names. These local species entities can be defined as ethnospecies and can match, under-differentiate or over-differentiate as compared to scientific species. Identification of plant species in trade is further complicated by the processed state of the product, substitution and adulteration. In countries like Tanzania, an additional dimension to mapping folk taxonomies on scientific names is added by the multitude of ethnicities and languages of the plant collectors, traders and consumers. This study aims to elucidate the relations between the most common vernacular names and the ethnicity of the individual traders among the medicinal plant markets in Dar es Salaam and Tanga regions in Tanzania, with the aim of understanding the dynamics of vernacular names in plant trade. Methods A total of 90 respondents were interviewed in local markets using semi-structured interviews. The ethnicity of each respondent was recorded, as well as the language of each ethnospecies mentioned during the interviews. Voucher collections and reference literature were used to match ethnospecies across languages. Results At each market, the language of the majority of the vendors dominates the names for medicinal products. The dominant vendors often represent the major ethnic groups of that region. Independent of their ethnicity, vendors offer their products in the dominant language of the specific region without apparently leading to any confusion or species mismatching. Conclusions Middlemen, traders and vendors adapt their folk classifications to those of the ethnic groups of the region where they conduct their trade, and to the ethnicity of their main customers. The names in the language of the traders are not forgotten, but relegated in favor of the more salient names of the dominant tribe. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1746-4269-11-10) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Large-scale patterns of Amazonian biodiversity have until now been obscured by a sparse and scattered inventory record. Here we present the first comprehensive spatial model of tree α-diversity and tree density in Amazonian rainforests, based on the largest-yet compilation of forest inventories and bolstered by a spatial interpolation technique that allows us to estimate diversity and density in areas that have never been inventoried. These data were then compared to continent-wide patterns of rainfall seasonality. We find that dry season length, while only weakly correlated with average tree α-diversity, is a strong predictor of tree density and of maximum tree α-diversity. The most diverse forests for any given DSL are concentrated in a narrow latitudinal band just south of the equator, while the least diverse forests for any given DSL are found in the Guayana Shield and Amazonian Bolivia. Denser forests are more diverse than sparser forests, even when we used a measure of diversity that corrects for sample size. We propose that rainfall seasonality regulates tree α-diversity and tree density by affecting shade tolerance and subsequently the number of different functional types of trees that can persist in an area.