ABSTRACT SCHNELL, EUGENE ZACHARY. An Ethnobotany Study: A Comparison of Peoples Medicinal Plant Use in an Urban and Rural Setting in the Province of Romblon, Philippines. (Under the direction of Gary Blank.) Ethnobotany has been used to study cultures and how people have used plants for medicine since the term was created. This study analyzed the comparison of medicinal plant use with an urban site called Odiongan and a rural site called Ferrol in the Philippines. A test was conducted to examine if there are any significant differences in age, gender and location in relation to the number of medicinal plants used. Through a semi-structured interview 22 used medicinal plants were identified and collected for the study. A survey was produced to ask the participants to identify which of the medicinal plants they used and were recorded in a structured interview. The survey also reviews the attitudes towards western medicine and plant based medicine. There were 195 total participants between both study sites and only age was found to be significant in relation to the number of medicinal plants used. The majority of participants (71%) prefer to use plant based medicine, yet 48% find their medicine comes from a local drug store. The study provides a new look into studying and testing communities for medicinal plant use and also provides data to show that a rural and developing urban site in the Philippines show no significant difference in the amount of medicinal plant used. While most studies focus primarily on the plants, this study gives focus to the people and how they use their environment for medicine. © Copyright by Zachary E. Schnell All Rights Reserved An Ethnobotany Study: A Comparison of Peoples Medicinal Plant Use in an Urban and Rural Setting in the Province of Romblon, Philippines by Zachary Eugene Schnell A Thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Natural Resources Raleigh, North Carolina 2015 APPROVED BY: Dr. Gary Blank Dr. Bob Patterson Chair of Advisory Committee Dr. Tim Wallace BIOGRAPHY Zachary Eugene Schnell was born on January 12, 1989 in Wilmington, North Carolina as the son of Ron and Julie Schnell. He attended Eugene Ashley High school and graduated with honors in 2007. Following high school, Zac began his college career in 2007 at North Carolina State University. During his freshmen year at North Carolina State, Zac did not really know what he wanted to study and learn about for his future. During his last two weeks of his freshman year in college he came across the Environmental Technology & Management program in the College of Natural Resources and thought “why not.” While pursuing his degree, he found a love of working in the environmental field and enjoyed learning and expanding his understanding of the natural environment. During his undergraduate work Zac was very involved on campus participating and volunteering in environmental clubs, performing in musicals and theatre productions with university theatre, and working as a teacher assistant for different professors and classes. During his first summer internship Zac worked in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Tremont as a Teacher Naturalist. Zac loved interacting with people of all ages and enjoyed working in the great outdoors while teaching others about the natural world around them. Also during his undergraduate years, he participated in a study abroad program that sent him down to the Amazon Jungle in Peru. It was there that Zac learned about Shamanism and using plants for medicine and gained an interest in the subject of ethnobotany. Sharing his love for the natural environment and learning from others in the field of environmental management became very interesting to Zac. During his senior year he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do after graduation and through some searching and talking to different people he came across the Master’s International program. The program offers ii students to earn a master’s degree and becoming a Peace Corps volunteer at the same time. With the guidance from some of his professors at NC State University Zac began his application to graduate school through the College of Natural Resources and was accepted into the Masters of Science in Natural Resources program with a concentration of Assessment and Analysis in 2011. It was then that he applied to the U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer service program and was accepted and assigned to serve in the Southeast Asian country of the Philippines. Zac’s assignment was in the Coastal Resource Management sector, where he lived and worked with local Filipinos in the environmental sector. Interacting with people and the environment is what brought him to conduct research in the ethnobotanical field and further his interest in medicinal plants. From 2012-2014 Zac served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines and then returned to finish his master’s degree for the Spring 2015 semester. Zac is a motivated individual and uses the different opportunities that life gives him, even if they are random occurrences. Zac is a free-spirit, and has a love for life and adventure. He rarely meets a stranger, and enjoys interacting with new people. Traveling the world has become a hobby for Zac. His experiences at NC State have given him a chance to pursue his interest in learning as much as he can about different people and different cultures. Living life to the fullest is nothing new to Zac. In his down time, Zac enjoys hiking, kayaking, and boating. He also has a knack for videography and photography, and can typically be found filming something for a new video. His love for putting together exciting recreations of his life’s adventures has become a teaching tool for Zac to use to share his experiences with others. He enjoys helping others see the beauty of the world around them iii and reminding people that there is something new and exciting in every new adventure life offers you. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to give a special thanks to my graduate advisor Dr. Gary Blank for his willingness to guide me through this adventure of pursuing a master’s degree. My thanks and gratitude also goes to Dr. Bob Patterson for always finding the time to help me and sharing the excitement through my studies. Special thanks to Dr. Tim Wallace for being flexible and providing advice and new perspectives. Also would like to thank Dr. Bob Bruck for all of your work and effort you provided me through my undergraduate and graduate degree. Also for the fun study abroad adventures! Thank you to Solomon Ghezehei for assisting me with computing analysis of results and willingness to help answer some analysis questions. A very grateful thank you goes to my Peace Corps family that has assisted me with collecting data and providing support for my studies. A heartfelt thank you goes to Arturo Muros in your responsiveness and always supporting me and being a great friend. To my counterpart Ernie Falo, you have helped me with anything and everything and your kindness I will never forget. Thank you Leonito “Lito” Falo and your hospitality and kind family were always understanding and generous with assisting me, and I will always be ready to have some “sleeping vitamins” in your home. Special thank you to Luz Gelito for being a hard worker in helping with improving peoples lives and a terrific supervisor to serve under. v An extraordinary thank you goes to Ben Burke for helping with the procurement of mailing plant specimens from the Philippines to the USA. An enormous special thank you goes to Katie Gulilly, Loren Michelle, and Ata Tsafalus with the assistance in collecting information and being responsive when needed. Many thanks to my fellow Peace Corps volunteers, you all made the adventure much more entertaining and worth wild. Some notable mentions and thanks goes out to the Founding Fathers for keeping life interesting and always providing any help that they could. Also to my fellow Peace Corps batch mate Romblomanons, Joshua Flickinger and Siobhan Gibbons, thank you both for your loyal and generous assistance during our Peace Corps service. Your friendship and aid will never be forgotten. To all of my Peace Corps Philippines family I say, “Maraming, maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat!” Of course I cannot forget my crazy loving family and all of their patience and support they have given me from day one. To my mother and father for listening to all the stories and letting me live life to the fullest, words cannot express my gratitude. To my sister, Dr. Nicole Schnell, thank you for always helping me with various assignments and completing them, especially in editing and reviewing papers. Thank you to many of my relatives for offering their support through the years, especially to my uncle Dr. Raymond Schnell and grandfather Don. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 STUDYING ETHNOBOTANY ........................................................................................... 1 A HISTORY OF ETHNOBOTANY .................................................................................... 3 THE STUDY OUTLOOK ...................................................................................................