JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE Ethnobotany of dye plants in Dong communities of China Liu et al. Liu et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2014, 10:23 http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/10/1/23 Liu et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2014, 10:23 http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/10/1/23 JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE RESEARCH Open Access Ethnobotany of dye plants in Dong communities of China Yujing Liu1, Selena Ahmed2, Bo Liu1, Zhiyong Guo1, Weijuan Huang1, Xianjin Wu3, Shenghua Li3, Jiangju Zhou4, Qiyi Lei4 and Chunlin Long1,3,5* Abstract Background: Dyes derived from plants have an extensive history of use for coloring food and clothing in Dong communities and other indigenous areas in the uplands of China. In addition to use as coloring agents, Dong communities have historically utilized dye plants for their value for enhancing the nutritive, medicinal and preservative properties of foods. However, the persistence of plant-derived dyes and associated cultural practices and traditional knowledge is threatened with rapid socio-economic change in China. Research is needed to docu- ment the ethnobotany of dye plants in indigenous communities towards their conservation and potential commercialization as a sustainable means of supporting local development initiatives. Methods: Semi-structured surveys on plants used for coloring agents and associated traditional knowledge were conducted in fifteen Dong villages of Tongdao County in Hunan Province of South Central China during 2011–2012. Transect walks were carried out with key informants identified from semi-structured surveys to collect samples and voucher specimens for each documented plant species for taxonomic identification. Results: Dong households at the study sites utilize the flowers, bark, stems, tubers and roots of 13 plant species from 9 families as dyes to color their customary clothing and food. Out of the documented plants, a total of 7 are used for coloring food, 3 for coloring clothing and 3 for both food and clothing. Documented plants consist of 3 species that yield black pigments, 3 for brownish red/russet pigments, 3 for red pigments, 2 for dark blue pigments and 2 for yellow pigments. In addition to dyes, the plants have multiple uses including medicinal, ornamental, sacrificial, edible, and for timber. Conclusions: The use of dyes derived from plants persists at the study sites for their important role in expressing Dong cultural identity through customary clothing and food. Further research is needed to evaluate the safety of dye plants, their efficacy in enhancing food items and their commercial potential. Conservation policies and management plans are called for to preserve these ethnobotanical resources in a sustainable manner that supports local livelihoods while maintaining cultural practices. Keywords: Dong people, Dye plant, Ethnobotany, Medicinal value Background William Henry Perkin [1]. Artificial dyes are valued for Dyes derived from plants have an extensive history of their relatively cheaper prices, abundance and bright use for enhancing food and clothing in communities colors. However, artificial dyes are also recognized for worldwide. Natural pigments have almost been com- their toxicity, contribution to environmental pollution pletely replaced with synthetic dyes since the production and for their carcinogenic properties and can cause aller- of artificial dyes started in 1856 following synthesis by gic reactions in humans [2]. Natural dyes on the other hand are recognized for their lower toxicity for both * Correspondence: [email protected] humans and the environment as well as being resilient 1College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, to washing and fading [2,3]. Furthermore, some natural Beijing 100081, China 3Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Study and Utilization of dyes are recognized for their positive health benefits Ethnomedicinal Plant Resources, Huaihua University, Hunan 418000, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2014 Liu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. Liu et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2014, 10:23 Page 2 of 8 http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/10/1/23 such as the pigment uranidin from Carthamus tinctorius restricting the supply and transport of goods and cul- [2] and curcumin from the dried rhizomes of Curcuma tural exchange and enabled the persistence of Dong cul- longa [4]. The uranidin has been shown to accelerate tural practices. China’s recent efforts to expand blood circulation and promote skin metabolism [2], infrastructure into its remote areas is now causing a not- while curcumin is with antitumor, anti-inflammatory able shift in these communities. and antioxidant effects and it has been used for the Field research was carried out in Tongdao County in treatment of rheumatism and prevent the generation of 2011 and 2012 in a total of 15 villages located in four gallstones [4]. townships including: Yutou, Yazhai, Ganzi, Tangchong, Some indigenous communities in remote areas con- Jili, Luowu, Pipa, Qiaotou, Majia, Dazhai, Changzhai, tinue to utilize dye plants for coloring food products and Zhaishang, Hongxiang, Shangtuan and Lanyang villages. clothing as well as for other cultural uses. A literature The population of these villages varies from 242 to review reveals that 88 patents have been filed for natural 1,187. Two of the villages are close to a town (within five pigments from plants and that indigenous communities kilometers) while the others are far from township sites throughout the world utilized most of these resources (25–35 kilometers). [5]. Ethnobotanical research is needed to compile a com- prehensive database of dye plants as well as to record Field research associated knowledge and cultural practices for the pres- Semi-structured interviews were carried out at the ervation of these ethnobotanical resources. The present study sites. A total of 80 informants including 36 males study seeks to address the knowledge gap through re- and 44 females were interviewed. Informants were be- search in indigenous Dong communities in the uplands tween the ages of 16 and 70 years old. The interviews of South Central China. consisted of the following questions adapted from Dong communities in the uplands of Central China Wang and Long (1995) [6]: (1) What plants in your have historically colored their cultural clothing and food community have been traditionally used for dyeing products with dye plants and also used dye plants for products? (2) Who in your household and community adding medicinal and nutritive value to foods. The Dong uses dye plants? (3) What season/time of the year do socio-linguistic group is one of the 55 minority socio- you collect dye plants? (4) How are each of these dye linguistic groups of China. They primarily live in China’s plants collected? (5) Where do dye plants grow in your Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi Provinces. According to community and surroundings? (6) How are dye plants their language, Dong means “people who live inside of processed for prepared for coloring food and clothing? the fence”. The Dong people are polytheism and ani- (7) Do you prefer your clothing to be from natural dyed mism. They worship natural objects including ancient cloth or artificially dyed cloth? trees and rocks as well as manmade objects including Fifteen key informants were identified on the basis of wells and bridges. Many Dong communities live in remote semi-structured interviews for transect walks through areas where there traditional practices persist. However, the surrounding mountains and fields to collect docu- with expanded infrastructure and commercialization into mented dye plants for samples and voucher specimens. China’s rural montane areas, traditional use of plants in- Picture cards with dye plants were shown to informants cluding dye plants is decreasing along with their associ- to document local knowledge of these species. ated knowledge base. The present study seeks to document dye plants in Dong communities and associated Data analysis traditional knowledge towards cultural and ecological Dye plants reported from interviews were organized conservation. into a database (Table 1) with the following informa- tion: (1) Latin name, (2) family name, (3) parts used, (4) Methods dye uses, (5) color and, (6) medicinal value. All the Study sites specimens were identified according to the Flora of Research was conducted in Tongdao Dong Autonomous China. Voucher specimens of plants available during County in southwest Hunan Province of China. Tongdao field investigations were collected and deposited in the County is one of the main settlements for the Dong that herbarium of Minzu University of China. account for 78.3% of the total population of approxi- mately 220,000 people. The county is 2,239 square kilo- Results meters in size with a total of 218 villages. The remaining Women are the primary users of dye plants at the study population of Tongdao County includes 21.7% Han sites and utilize these species to dye customary clothing Chinese and small percentage of members from 13 other and food products. Knowledge of species used for dying minority socio-linguistic groups. The mountains of and prepartion of dyes is orally transferred from mother Tongdao have historically served to create barriers to daughter. A total of 50, 69, 46, 63, 38, 41, 62, 80, 56, 29 http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/10/1/23 Liu Table 1 Natural plants used for dying by Dong communities of Tongdao County in South Central China et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine Herbarium Scientific name Family name Local Han-Chinese Dong name Parts Dye Color Ecological Medicinal value Other value Voucher # name used uses produced data Yujing Liu, Ardisia crenata Myrsinaceae Zhu sha gen朱砂根 Sang mei zhu Root Food Red Shrub under forest, Curing throat swelling and Medicinal, D6 (MUC) Roxb.