IntroductionPlant resources gathered from the wild are important sources of livelihood needs, especially for the low-income populations living living in remote areas, who rely on these plants for food, fuelwood, medicine and building materials. Yadong County is a valley on the border of the three countries in southern Tibet. Yadong is rich in biodiversity and culture, but ethnobotanical knowledge has not been systematically studied. The purpose of this research is: to document the ethnobotanical knowledge of the Tibetans in Yadong County.MethodsEthnobotanical data were documented through free listing, key informant interviews, and semistructured interviews during field work. The CI (cultural importance index) and FIC (informant consensus factor index) were used as quantitative indices.Results163 informants (46 women and 117 men) were interviewed. In total, 3031 use reports and 121 plant species belonging to 52 families and 91 genera were included. Then these use reports were classified into 20 categories belonging to the nine major categories. The utilization categories that contained the most plant species were food, followed by economic, medicine, animal food, social uses, other uses, environmental uses, materials and fuels. Among the economic plants, thirty-two kinds of medicinal plants are traditionally used in the local region for sale. The plants with high CI were Fritillaria cirrhosa, Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora, Betula utilis, Rheum nobile, Urtica hyperborean.ConclusionThis research demonstrates the diversity of types and functions of the Yadong Tibetan’s traditional plant knowledge. Knowledge of edible and medicinal plants in this area is more prominent, reflecting the ability to cope with the lack of fruits and vegetables and basic family medical care. There were exchanges between the traditional plant culture of the study area and the surroundings. With the socioeconomic development, the commercial value of medicinal plants has been developed, and locals are also seeking a path of sustainable development to cope with excessive consumption of plant resources.

BackgroundFolk plant nomenclature is a part of knowledge of indigenous people often used to distinguish plant species. This study aimed to document the folk botanical nomenclature of the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan, north-west Yunnan Province, which has not been systematically investigated to date. The results of this study will assist in conserving biodiversity and the language of the Yi people and will promote the transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge. MethodsAn ethnobotanical survey of plants used by the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan, Yunnan Province, was conducted from September 2019 to August 2021. Semi-structured Interviews and Key Informant Interviews were conducted to collect and document ethnobotanical information, which was then used to analyse the folk botanical nomenclature of the Yi people. In addition, the folk names of plants used by the Xiaoliangshan Yi community were compared with those of the Yi people living in the Daliangshan, where the environment is considerably different.ResultsIn this study, 266 informants were interviewed, and the names of 228 indigenous plants were extracted from 3088 use reports. The nomenclature used by the local Yi people is based on plant characteristics, plant habitat, plant-use, and the local culture. The folk names and the plant species have three types of correspondence. Moreover, some plant names are related to animals or Chinese loanwords. The comparison between the folk botanical names used by the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan and those used by the Yi people in the Daliangshan shows that 55 names are identical and the Yi people in both locations use 41 identical plants.ConclusionsThere are certain similarities and differences between the folk nomenclature of the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan and those in the Daliangshan. The findings are an example of how language evolves when people from the same ethnic group live in different geographical environments for extensive periods. In addition, the numerous Chinese loanwords in the folk botanical names of the Yi people in both locations indicate that a loss of traditional knowledge may be one of the greatest challenges to preserving the cultural heritage of the Yi people and to the conservation of biodiversity.