The history of the rice gene pool in Suriname: circulations of rice and people from the eighteenth century until late twentieth century

Alongside the trans-Atlantic slave trade, plant species travelled from Africa to the Americas and back. This article examines the emerging rice gene pool in Suriname due to the global circulation of people, plants and goods. We distinguish three phases of circulation, marked by two major transitions. Rice was brought to the Americas by European colonizers, mostly as food on board slave ships. In Suriname rice started off as a crop grown only by Maroon communities in the forests of the Suriname interior. For these runaway slaves cultivating several types of rice for diverse purposes played an important role in restoring some of their African culture. Rice was an anti-commodity that acted as a signal of protest against the slave-based plantation economy. After the end of slavery, contract labourers recruited from British India and the Dutch Indies also brought rice to Suriname. These groups grew rice as a commodity for internal and global markets. This formed the basis of a second transition, turning rice into an object of scientific research. The last phase of science-driven circulation of rice connected the late-colonial period with the global Green Revolution.El comercio transatlantico de esclavos tuvo como consecuencia la transferencia de numerosas especies vegetales. Este artículo se centra en la aparición de un acervo genético del arroz en Surinam, como consecuencia del tráfico de personas, plantas y mercancías. Hemos dividido la historia de la circulación global del arroz en tres etapas, separadas por dos etapas transicionales. El arroz llegó a América de la mano de los colonizadores, que lo empleaban como alimento, especialmente a bordo de los navíos que transportaban los esclavos. En Surinam no existían plantaciones de arroz, pero este cultivo pronto fue adoptado por grupos cimarrones formados por esclavos huidos hacia los bosques del interior de Surinam. El arroz parece haber jugado un papel fundamental para estos grupos, al permitirles restablecer algunos aspectos de su cultura africana ancestral, incluyendo el cultivo de distintas variedades de arroz. Como un símbolo de protesta contra las plantaciones con esclavos, el arroz cimarrón fue una antimercancía. Con el fin de la esclavitud llegaron a Surinam nuevos colectivos de trabajadores reclutados en las Indias británicas y holandesas. Estos grupos cultivaron arroz como una mercancía de primer orden. El artículo describe esta segunda transición, que convirtió este cereal en un objeto para la ciencia. Esta circulación de orientación científica conecta el período final colonial con la Revolución Verd

The Future Is in the Younger Generations : Baka Children in Southeast Cameroon Have Extensive Knowledge on Medicinal Plants

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UABUnidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MIn the context of global change, understanding the knowledge and values given to plants is crucial for choosing relevant approaches towards a more sustainable future. Children are central holders of ethnobotanical knowledge, yet they are still under-considered in ethnobotany. Our study explored the medicinal knowledge of children of the Baka, forager-horticulturalists from Cameroon. We assessed the diversity of medicinal plants they know, the different ailments treated, and whether they could name complete herbal recipes. Using a mixed-methods approach, we combined ex situ interviews (freelisting and knowledge surveys) with in situ methods (walk-in-the-woods trips with voucher collection) with 106 children from 5 to 16 years old. They listed 128 local names of medicinal plants, which we linked to 126 different plant species. While the ex situ and in situ methods had some overlap in the diversity of medicinal plants reported, they also revealed substantial knowledge unique to each method. Our insights provide further evidence of children's considerable ethnobotanical knowledge and the extent to which different field methods can retrieve such knowledge. We discuss the methodological tools to be developed with and for children to put childhood at the center stage of ethnobotanical approaches for the future

Ethnobotany of Wild and Semi-Wild Edible Fruit Species used by Maale and Ari Ethnic Communities in Southern Ethiopia

Wild and semi-wild tree fruit species are important resources in combating food insecurity and providing supplementary diet to rural people. We studied wild and semi-wild fruit species used by the Maale and Ari communities in southern Ethiopia and the conservation status of these resources. We used focus group discussions (n = 18) and individual interviews (n = 144) in three rural kebeles. In total, the two communities used 52 species of wild and semi-wild fruit species which were especially important for their diet in times of food shortage. The most important species were, for the Maale community, Balanites rotundifolia (Tiegh.) Blatt. and Dobera glabra (Forssk.) Juss. ex Poir. and, for the Ari community, Carissa spinarum L. and Vitex doniana Sweet. No significant variation in ethnobotanical knowledge regarding fruit species existed among gender and age groups. The main traded fruit species were B. rotundifolia, Ximenia caffra Sond., and Vangueria madagascariensis J.F.Gmel. The major threats reported by informants to the availability of wild and semi-wild fruit species were tree felling and conversion of forest to agricultural land. In addition to preserving the local knowledge and implementing conservation strategies that protect the remaining fruit trees, maintenance and enrichment planting of the most important species are plausible management interventions

Ethnobotany of Wild and Semi-Wild Edible Fruit Species used by Maale and Ari Ethnic Communities in Southern Ethiopia

Wild and semi-wild tree fruit species are important resources in combating food insecurity and providing supplementary diet to rural people. We studied wild and semi-wild fruit species used by the Maale and Ari communities in southern Ethiopia and the conservation status of these resources. We used focus group discussions (n = 18) and individual interviews (n = 144) in three rural kebeles. In total, the two communities used 52 species of wild and semi-wild fruit species which were especially important for their diet in times of food shortage. The most important species were, for the Maale community, Balanites rotundifolia (Tiegh.) Blatt. and Dobera glabra (Forssk.) Juss. ex Poir. and, for the Ari community, Carissa spinarum L. and Vitex doniana Sweet. No significant variation in ethnobotanical knowledge regarding fruit species existed among gender and age groups. The main traded fruit species were B. rotundifolia, Ximenia caffra Sond., and Vangueria madagascariensis J.F.Gmel. The major threats reported by informants to the availability of wild and semi-wild fruit species were tree felling and conversion of forest to agricultural land. In addition to preserving the local knowledge and implementing conservation strategies that protect the remaining fruit trees, maintenance and enrichment planting of the most important species are plausible management interventions

African Rice (Oryza glaberrima Steud.): Lost Crop of the Enslaved Africans Discovered in Suriname1

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

Recommended standards for conducting and reporting ethnopharmacological field studies

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

Famine food of vegetal origin consumed in the Netherlands during World War II

Background: Periods of extreme food shortages during war force people to eat food that they normally do not consider edible. The last time that countries in Western Europe experienced severe scarcities was during World War II. The so-called Dutch famine or Hunger Winter (1944-1945) made at least 25,000 victims. The Dutch government took action by opening soup kitchens and providing information on wild plants and other famine food sources in "wartime cookbooks." The Dutch wartime diet has never been examined from an ethnobotanical perspective. Methods: We interviewed 78 elderly Dutch citizens to verify what they remembered of the consumption of vegetal and fungal famine food during World War II by them and their close surroundings. We asked whether they experienced any adverse effects from consuming famine food plants and how they knew they were edible. We identified plant species mentioned during interviews by their local Dutch names and illustrated field guides and floras. We hypothesized that people living in rural areas consumed more wild species than urban people. A Welch t test was performed to verify whether the number of wild and cultivated species differed between urban and rural citizens. Results: A total number of 38 emergency food species (14 cultivated and 21 wild plants, three wild fungi) were mentioned during interviews. Sugar beets, tulip bulbs, and potato peels were most frequently consumed. Regularly eaten wild species were common nettle, blackberry, and beechnuts. Almost one third of our interviewees explicitly described to have experienced extreme hunger during the war. People from rural areas listed significantly more wild species than urban people. The number of cultivated species consumed by both groups was similar. Negative effects were limited to sore throats and stomachache from the consumption of sugar beets and tulip bulbs. Knowledge on the edibility of famine food was obtained largely by oral transmission; few people remembered the written recipes in wartime cookbooks. Conclusion: This research shows that 71years after the Second World War, knowledge on famine food species, once crucial for people's survival, is still present in the Dutch society. The information on famine food sources supplied by several institutions was not distributed widely. For the necessary revival of famine food knowledge during the 1940s, people needed to consult a small group of elders. Presumed toxicity was a major reason given by our participants to explain why they did not collect wild plants or mushrooms during the war