Of Southeastern Nicaragua and Comparisons with Miskitu Plant Lore Author(S): Felix G
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Ethnobotany of the Sumu (Ulwa) of Southeastern Nicaragua and Comparisons with Miskitu Plant Lore Author(s): Felix G. Coe and Gregory J. Anderson Source: Economic Botany, Vol. 53, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1999), pp. 363-386 Published by: Springer on behalf of New York Botanical Garden Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4256219 Accessed: 02-01-2018 16:29 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Springer, New York Botanical Garden Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Economic Botany This content downloaded from 12.14.13.130 on Tue, 02 Jan 2018 16:29:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ETHNOBOTANY OF THE SUMU (ULWA) OF SOUTHEASTERN NICARAGUA AND COMPARISONS WITH MISKITU PLANT LoREi FELIX G. COE AND GREGORY J. ANDERSON Felix G. Coe (Department of Biology, Tennessee Technological University, P.O. Box 5063, Cookeville, TN 38505) and Gregory J. Anderson (Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Box U-43, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3043).ETHNOBOTANY OF THE SUMU (ULWA) OF SOUTHEASTERN NICARAGUA AND COMPARISONS WITH MISKrru PLANT LORE. Economic Botany 53(4):363-386, 1999. The Sumu (Ulwa) are one of three Amerindian groups of eastern Nicaragua. Their uses of 225 species of plants in 174 genera and 72 families were documented in two years of fieldwork. Included are 187 medicinals, 69 food plants, and 84 for other uses. Ulwa medicinals treat more than 25 human ailments, and most (80%) are native to eastern Nicaragua. Over 70% of the medicinals have a recognized bioactive principle, most are herbs (48%) or trees (33%). Leaves are the most frequently utilized plant part. Most medicinals are prepared as decoctions and are administered orally. Almost half of Ulwa food plants are domesticates, but only six are native to the New World tropics. Comparison of plant use between the Ulwa and southern Miskitu indicated that most of the species used for food (98%), medicinals (90%), and medicinal applications (80%) are the same. The Miskitu use more species, have a wider range of medicinal applications, and more unique plant uses than the Ulwa, presumably due to their larger territory. Differences in ethnobotanical usage between these groups seem to be more a reflection of scale than of remnants of cultural differences. LA ETNOBOTANICA DE LOS SUMU (ULWA) DEL SUDESTE DE NICARAGUA Y COMPARACIONES CON EL SABER BOTANICO DE LOS MISKITUS. Los Sumu (Ulwa) constituyen uno de los tres grupos Ame- rindios del oriente Nicaragulense. Durante dos anos de estudios se documentaron los usos por e'ste grupo de 225 especies vegetales en 174 generos y 72 familias. Incluyendo 187 especies medicinales, 69 especies alimenticias y 84 especies para usos auxiliares. Las plantas medici- nales de los Ulwa tratan mds de 25 enfermedades y la mayorfa (80%) son especies nativas del oriente Nicaraguense. Mds del 70% de las especies medicinales poseen alguin principio bioac- tivo; la mayorfa son hierbas (48%) o cirboles (33%). Las hojas son las partes ma's frecuente- mente utilizadas en remedios y son preparados en forma de decoccuiones y administradas oral- mente. Las plantas comestibles en su mayoria son domesticadas, solamente seis son nativas del neotr6pico. Comparaciones de las plantas usadas por los Ulwa y Miskitu demuestran que la mayorfa de las especies usadas como alimentos (98%), medicinas (90%) y aplicaciones medicinales (80%) son iguales. Los Miskitu usan un mayor numero de especies, con un mayor rango de aplicaciones medicinales y mas usos singulares de plantas que los Ulwa, presumi- blemente debido a su territorio mas extenso. Diferencias etnobota'nicas parecen ser mas bien consecuencia de escala y no vestigios de diferencias culturales. We dedicate this paper to Charles B. Heiser who has inspired so many to study the relationships between plants and people. Key Words: ethnobotany; Sumu; Ulwa; southeastern Nicaragua; medicinal plants. The Sumu, or Mayangna (the original name McLean 1993). Historically, the Sumu of eastern of the Sumu people before European contact), Nicaragua consisted of five subgroups: the Pa- are an Amerindian group of southeastern Hon- namahka, Twahka, Ulwa, Bawihka, and Kukra duras and northwestern and southeastern Nica- (group names derived from local language). The ragua (Conzemius 1932; Hale and Gordon 1987; latter two are extinct (Conzemius 1932; Romero Nietschmann 1969; Williamson, Aviles, and et al. 1992). Today, the remaining three Sumu sub-groups are identified primarily by linguistic 'Received 28 September 1998; accepted 11 May characteristics (Hale 1991; McLean 1996; Nor- 1999. wood 1997). The northern Sumu speak Pana- Economic Botany 53(4) pp. 363-386. 1999 C) 1999 by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A. This content downloaded from 12.14.13.130 on Tue, 02 Jan 2018 16:29:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 364 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 53 NICARAGUA IEIOJf PANAMANKA D 7WAHK4 r IULWA REGION AUfTONOMA ATLANT7CO NORTE WsPe REGION AUTONOMA ATLANTICO SUR HOND)URAS / ,P Iau Cn Sadp dea i rp Fig. 1. Map ofJ Nicaragua showing Ulwa settlements in eastern Nicaragua and field study siteS(ndy Sir p l Cniino ___ itakiblia \~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~cr Lagoonua \ \ _ \_ M~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~lefed MonsCSTARIA Fig. 1 Map o Nicargua sowing lwa setlemens in asternNicaraua andfieldstudy ites (n rectngle) mahka and Twahka, and the southern Sumu Zelaya (Hale and Gordon 1987; Williamson, speak Ulwa, but 62% percent of the basic vo- Aviles, and McLean 1993) (Fig. 1). The Sumu cabulary is shared among the three Sumu lan- population in eastern Nicaragua is estimated at guages (CIDCA 1989; Hale 1991). The Sumu 7000 to 11 000 inhabitants: 73% are Panamahka, languages are historically related to the Miskitu 16% are Twahka, and only 11 % are Ulwa (CID- languages, and belong to the Misumalpan lan- CA 1982; Hale and Gordon 1987; Williamson, guage group and are now structurally identical Aviles, and McLean 1993). Ulwa enclaves con- (CIDCA 1985; Hale 1991; McLean 1996; Nor- sist of small settlements in the lowland swamp wood 1997). The Panamahka and the Twahka forest along the lower margins of the Rio live in what is today the Regi6n Autonoma At- Grande de Matagalpa, Rio Kurinwas, and Rio lantico Norte (RAAN), and the Ulwa live in the Wawashang. Regi6n Aut6noma Atlantico Sur (RAAS), a po- The Ulwa are the most highly acculturated of litical subdivision of the former department of the three Sumu sub-groups in eastern Nicaragua. This content downloaded from 12.14.13.130 on Tue, 02 Jan 2018 16:29:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1999] COE & ANDERSON: ETHNOBOTANY OF THE SUMU 365 The acculturation of the Ulwa is due to more two largest Ulwa settlements of southeastern than a century of continuous contact with out- Nicaragua, both of which are shared with the siders-mostly missionaries and traders (Bell Miskitu. Karawala is the larger of the two with 1989; Conzemius 1932; Dozier 1985; Nietsch- about 1200 inhabitants; Kara has only about 30 mann 1979; Roberts 1827; Romero 1995; Smut- Ulwa speakers (Coe pers. obs. 1992, 1993, ko 1985). The study of Ulwa plant lore is made 1997; Hale 1991; Williamson, Aviles, and Mc- more urgent by the threat of it becoming com- Lean 1993). The climate is tropical with a rainy pletely obscured by Miskitu and/or mestizo season of 6 to 8 months and no well-defined dry (people of European and Amerindian ancestry) season. The average annual rainfall is 2000 to culture. An ancillary manifestation of accultur- 4000 mm (increasing from north to south), and ation is the irreplaceable loss of ethnobotanical the average annual temperature is 25 to 30?C information gathered over centuries of plant- (Incer 1975). The predominant ecosystems in people interactions. Fortunately, ethnobotanical the area are broadleaf evergreen forest (consist- lore is generally one of the last elements of cul- ing of the terra firma moist tropical forest and ture to be lost (Boom 1987; Schultes 1990). the swamp forest) and occasional patches of Even so, without prompt documentation, this pine too savannas. Some dominant species of the will be gone. broadleaf evergreen forest are Spanish cedar Ethnobotanical studies among the Sumu have (113 Cedrela odorata [The numbers are a guide been limited to reports of a select group of me- to finding species in the Appendix, which also dicinal plants by Barrett (1994) and Fey and Sin- includes the Ulwa names, authorities and fami- del (1993). Other botanical studies that include lies.]), mahogany (114 Swietenia macrophylla), material on eastern Nicaragua are Dennis sambogum (48 Symphonia globulifera), sam- (1988), Salter (1950), Seymour (1980), and Tay- wood (36 Cordia alliodora), and Santa Maria lor (1962, 1963). However, these include only (46 Calophyllum brasiliense). The dominant general descriptions of plant use in the area. Ex- species of the pine savanna are saw cabbage haustive ethnobotanical studies that focus on the palm (184 Acoelorraphe wrightii) and Caribbe- overall use of plants by the indigenous groups an pine (4 Pinus caribaea). It is estimated that of eastern Nicaragua include Coe (1994) and 8000 species of vascular plants occur in Nica- Coe and Anderson (1996a, 1997). ragua (Stevens pers. obs. as part of the flora of Our study was restricted to the ethnobotany Nicaragua project). Coe and Stevens (pers. of the Ulwa of southeastern Nicaragua, the comm.) project that about 3500 of these species smallest of the three Sumu subgroups.