Biological Resource of Family Commelinaceae in Maha Sarakham Province: Diversity, Traditional Uses and Conservation Status

Abstract

Biodiversity contributes to the daily life of Maha Sarakham Province people, such as local food, vegetables, medicine, ornamentals, rituals, dye, traditional cosmetics, construction equipment, etc. Biodiversity is also involved in Thai traditions and wisdom passed down to the present. Therefore, the strength of Maha Sarakham Province is linked to the way of life, culture and local knowledge. It is a living capital connected to every resource, whether forests, animals, or microorganisms, indicating abundance and is an important part of the ecosystem. 14,15 Therefore, there should be a study on the diversity of plants, including the analysis of the utilisation of plants in the community forest. This is a critical process to create learning for conservation and to know how to use plants in various fields, as well as to transfer knowledge to youth about plant species, uses and conserving forest resources and maintaining biodiversity. 1,2,14,16 Family Commelinaceae, or dayflower family or spiderwort family, is one of the largest families in order Commelinales, clade Commelinids in the monocot plants with 41 genera and about 731 species. 16,17,18 It is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world with the centres of diversity of Commelinaceae being Peninsular India and the foothills of the Himalayas to Thailand and Southwestern China. It is distributed mainly in tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. 19 In Thailand, Thitimetharoch et al. (2014) reported 52 species from 13 genera of the family Commelinaceae. 20 The family Commelinaceae is used for animal food, medicine, and ornamental plants. 21 Among a large number of members of Commelinaceae family, popular species include Murdannia gigantea (Vahl) G. Brückn, M. loriformis (Hassk.) R.S. Rao & Kammathy, Tradescantia spathacea Swartz., T. zebrina var. zebrine and T. pallida (Rose) D.R. Hunt, etc. 19,22 Members of family Commelinaceae in Maha Sarakham Province have not been determined previously.