Ethnobotanical survey of plant species for herbal tea in a Yao autonomous county (Jianghua, China): results of a 2-year study of traditional medicinal markets on the Dragon Boat Festival

Abstract

BackgroundHerbal tea is widely consumed in Jianghua, a Yao autonomous county in Hunan Province, China, to prevent and treat diseases. The materials in herbal tea at the traditional medicinal markets at the Dragon Boat Festival remain unknown. The aims of the paper were (1) to specifically investigate the materials of herbal tea used by Yao nationalities in Hunan Province, (2) to record the most common and the culturally important medicinal plant species in the markets, and (3) to compare the medical plant tradition both used for herbal tea between the Jianghua and Lingnan regions.MethodsDuring 2016–2017, 215 vendors were interviewed at traditional medicinal markets at the Dragon Boat Festival in Jianghua to record plants used for herbal tea and to document traditional knowledge of their medicinal function, habitat, and conservation status. Bunches of medicinal plants were purchased to identify the species and to prepare voucher specimens. Cognitive salience (CS) based on free-lists and use value (UV) were calculated to analyze the cultural importance of medical plants; other quantitative methods (coefficient of similarity and chi-square analysis) were applied for comparison of herbal tea tradition between the Jianghua and Lingnan regions.ResultsA total of 169 species belonging to 66 families and 142 genera were recorded in herbal tea to treat health conditions in the study area. There were 30 health conditions that were recorded, with heat-clearing and detoxifying being the most common medicinal function, followed by treating rheumatism and promoting blood circulation. Of the 169 species, 97 were herbs. The whole plant was the most commonly used plant part in the preparation of herbal tea. According to the national evaluation criteria, three of these species are listed on “China’s red list” and registered as vulnerable (VU). By comparing the coefficient of similarity of herbal tea plants and the number of mentions for part(s) used in Jianghua and Lingnan, the medicinal plant tradition is different in two areas.ConclusionsHerbal tea in Jianghua reflects the cultural diversity of the Yao people and the plant diversity of the region. Future research on the safety, efficacy, and the adulterants of herbal tea are needed for sustainable utilization.

Ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants traded in herbal markets of Kahramanmaraş

“…Herbal markets, in turn, not only supply herbal treatment for diseases but also conserve biocultural diversity by transferring traditional knowledge to future generations. Accordingly, several studies have documented traditional knowledge in herbal markets ( Bussmann et al, 2007 , Bussmann et al, 2016 ; Idu et al., 2010 ; Quiroz et al., 2014 ; Sher et al., 2014 ; Towns et al., 2014 ; Randriamiharisoa et al., 2015 ; Tinitana et al., 2016 ; Carvalho et al., 2018 ; Jin et al., 2018 ; Luo et al., 2018 ; Franco et al., 2020 ; Nanogulyan et al., 2020 ). Ethnopharmacological investigation of herbal markets can also be a useful method to find new herbal recipes, which can be used to treat many diseases that cannot be treated by standard health systems ( Mushtaq et al., 2018 ; Petrakou et al, 2020 ).…”

A Vortex-Assisted Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction Followed by UPLC-MS/MS for Simultaneous Determination of Pesticides and Aflatoxins in Herbal Tea

“…Herbal tea is a kind of soup made with natural Chinese herbal medicine as raw materials according to the local climate, water and soil characteristics with the unique cooking methods by residents in the southern coastal areas of China [1,2,3,4], and guided by the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) health in the process of longer-term disease prevention and health care. It has the functions of clearing away heat and detoxifying, stimulating thirst, and preventing diseases [5,6,7] and as a social and recreational pastime [8,9,10,11].…”

Plant leaves for wrapping zongzi in China: an ethnobotanical study

“…According to our interviews, apart from the contribution to the zongzi flavor, some species of ZLs are believed to have antiseptic properties, which results in relatively long-term storage time of zongzi under natural conditions. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated at the end of the spring and the beginning of the summer when the food is easily attacked by spoilage organisms because of the suitable temperature and humidity [34]. Thus, ZLs with antiseptic functions are more favorable.…”

“…In addition, five species were also involved in the inflammation-diminishing effect among six species with analgesia value. Further studies should be conducted to clarify the relationship, which will be beneficial to the theoretical constructions for TCM [34].…”