Faculteit Landbouwkundige en Toegepaste Biologische Wetenschappen Academiejaar 2003-2004 Use and management of edible non-crop plants in southern Ecuador Veerle VAN DEN EYNDEN …el shiring…esta sí tiene fruta bien rica… …es frutita blanca, como mote… …hay que laminar las frutitas hasta que quedan como manteca… …es fresco… …el nombre viene de los shiris, los antepasados… Digna Pauco, Chalanga, Paltas (describing Allophylus mollis) Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in the Applied Biological Science Rector: Prof. Dr. A. De Leenheer Decaan: Promotor: Prof. Dr. ir. H. Van Langenhove Prof. Dr. ir. P. Van Damme Information presented in this work may only be used with proper citation of the source. Author ir. Veerle Van den Eynden Supervisor Prof. dr. ir. Patrick Van Damme Faculty of Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences Department of Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture and Ethnobotany Coupure links 653 B-9000 Gent Belgium [email protected] Prologue ______________________________________________________ v Abstract ______________________________________________________vii Samenvatting _________________________________________________ xi Resumen _____________________________________________________ xv 1 Introduction_____________________________________________ 1 1.1 Southern Ecuador _____________________________________________ 1 1.2 Vegetation ___________________________________________________ 5 1.3 Plant diversity _______________________________________________ 11 1.4 The people and their history____________________________________ 12 1.5 Agriculture and economy ______________________________________ 16 1.6 Plant use in southern Ecuador __________________________________ 19 1.7 Wild or non-crop foods in southern Ecuador ______________________ 20 1.8 Institutional context __________________________________________ 20 2 Objectives and research questions__________________________ 23 3 Methodology ___________________________________________ 25 3.1 Plant use data________________________________________________ 25 Field research________________________________________________ 25 Analyses ____________________________________________________ 27 3.2 Plant management data _______________________________________ 28 Field research________________________________________________ 28 Analyses ____________________________________________________ 29 4 Use of edible plants in southern Ecuador ____________________ 35 4.1 Knowledge of edible non-crop plants_____________________________ 35 4.2 Botanical aspects _____________________________________________ 36 4.3 New species _________________________________________________ 42 4.4 Used plant parts and their preparations___________________________ 48 4.5 Importance of wild foods ______________________________________ 52 4.6 Economic importance_________________________________________ 54 4.7 Ecological and regional variations in the use of edible plants throughout southern Ecuador _________________________________________________ 59 Ecological variations __________________________________________ 59 Socio-economic variations _____________________________________ 69 4.8 Shuar edible plant use _________________________________________ 70 4.9 Where people collect edible plants _______________________________ 72 4.10 Conclusions________________________________________________ 73 5 Plant management in Andean southern Ecuador______________ 79 5.1 Plant management explained ___________________________________ 79 5.2 Plant management of edible species in Andean southern Ecuador_____ 84 5.3 Characterisation of managed edible plants in the area_______________ 86 i 5.4 Management systems__________________________________________ 88 5.5 Homegardens of southern Ecuador in focus _______________________ 93 5.6 Edible non-crop plants managed in the agro-ecosystem ____________ 103 Fields______________________________________________________ 103 Pastures____________________________________________________ 105 Homegardens _______________________________________________ 108 Coffee groves _______________________________________________ 110 Hedges ____________________________________________________ 111 Roadsides __________________________________________________ 112 5.7 The reasons why edible non-crop plants are managed ______________ 114 5.8 How edible non-crop plants are managed ________________________ 114 5.9 Plant management patterns in Andean southern Ecuador ___________ 120 Clustering analysis ___________________________________________ 121 Ordination analysis __________________________________________ 122 Management patterns ________________________________________ 130 5.10 Patterns based on individual management events ________________ 133 5.11 Plant management in different agro-regions of southern Ecuador ___ 139 5.12 Conclusions _______________________________________________ 142 6 Local names of edible plants _____________________________ 147 6.1 Mestizo plant names _________________________________________ 148 Plant naming mechanisms ____________________________________ 149 Transposition _______________________________________________ 149 Borrowing __________________________________________________ 151 Neology____________________________________________________ 154 Other naming patterns________________________________________ 156 Meaning ___________________________________________________ 156 Nomenclature structures ______________________________________ 159 6.2 Variations in mestizo plant names ______________________________ 160 6.3 Shuar plant names ___________________________________________ 164 Nomenclature structures ______________________________________ 164 6.4 Variations in Shuar plant names ________________________________ 166 6.5 Comparing mestizo and shuar plant nomenclature_________________ 166 6.6 Conclusions_________________________________________________ 168 7 Discussion ____________________________________________ 173 Strengths ___________________________________________________ 173 Answering questions _________________________________________ 174 Link between plant use and management ________________________ 177 Implications of traditional plant management for conservation of biodiversity _________________________________________________ 181 Future research______________________________________________ 186 Literature____________________________________________________ 189 Annexes_____________________________________________________ 199 ii List of abbreviations ANOVA – Analysis of variance CATER – Centro Andino de Tecnología Rural, Universidad Nacional de Loja CINFA – Centro de Investigación Forestal y Agropecuaria, Univeridad Nacional de Loja LOJA – Herbarium Reinaldo Espinosa, Universidad Nacional de Loja MY – Herbarium of Maracay University NTSYS - Numerical Taxonomy and Multivariate Analysis System QCA – Herbarium of the Pontífica Universidad Católica del Ecuador QCNE – Herbarium of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales UPGMA - unweighted pair-group method analysis beT - bosque espinoso tropical - tropical thorn-forest bePM - bosque espinoso premontano - premontane thorn-forest bmsT - bosque muy seco tropical - very dry tropical forest bsT - bosque seco tropical - dry tropical forest bsPM - bosque seco premontano - dry premontane forest bsMB - bosque seco montano bajo - dry lower montane forest bhT - bosque húmedo tropical - humid tropical forest bhPM - bosque húmedo premontano - humid premontane forest bhMB - bosque húmedo montano bajo - humid, lower montane forest bhM - bosque húmedo montano - humid montane forest bmhT - bosque muy húmedo tropical - very humid tropical forest bmhPM - bosque muy húmedo premontano - very humid premontane forest bmhMB - bosque muy húmedo montano bajo - very humid, lower montane forest bmhM - bosque muy húmedo montano - very humid montane forest bpM - bosque pluvial montano - montane rain forest pSA - páramo subalpino - subalpine paramo iii iv Prologue Wow, this has been a long process. Almost ten years have passed since I flew to Ecuador for the first time. Fortunately I did not spend all that time on this project. The study started as a very exciting job (a Latin American project!), making an inventory of edible non-crop plants for and with CATER. The focus of the project was on development and co-operation. Working with local researchers was essential for me, and Eduardo Cueva and Omar Cabrera proved to be the best colleagues I could have wished for. Jointly doing all fieldwork, plant identifications and research, and providing training opportunities was crucial. Together we produced a field guide of wild edible plants of southern Ecuador. Only towards the end of the project did I decide to turn the “long list of plants” into a PhD project. The management aspect of plants had always intrigued me. So after three years, I stayed on another 6 months collecting more data on plant management. Then the plan was to analyse all data and write it all up. But, that got interrupted by a move to Scotland, and the birth of Joachim, and then Kaitlin and … priorities shifted. The PhD was abandoned and I got involved in Scottish ethnobotany and kids. But the long plant list and six notebooks full of scribbles on plants kept haunting me. So eventually, I picked up all data again, sat down at my desk in the yellow room in Scotland and started the long process of analysing, more analysing, and writing. Interrupted by baby noises in the background, baby hands flicking though books, kids drawing on books