Abstract:

Aims: Spice plants are one of the most significant commodities in global trade since the Age of Exploration and they still hold important economic and medicinal value nowadays. Ethnobotanical research on spice plants meets the needs of modern society and aligns with modern societal demands and the development trends of the “Big Health” industry. Ethnobotany studies play a crucial role in promoting the utilization of plant resources and the economic development of ethnic regions by offering unprecedented clues for screening medicines related to human safety and pharmacological activity. China, Myanmar, and Laos tropical regions are one of the global biodiversity hotspots with abundant spice plants and cultural diversity. This study aims to catalogue the traditional knowledge of spice plants consumed by the ethnic groups in these regions, thereby providing a scientific basis for their conservation and sustainable utilization.
Methods: Based on ethnobotanical principles and multidisciplinary approaches, integrating botany, anthropology, pharmacology, linguistics, ecology, and economics, field surveys were conducted in China, Myanmar and Laos tropical regions. Semi-structured interviews (“5W+H”), village and market investigations, were done among eight ethnic groups, including Dai, Hani, Yao, Lao, Khmu, Burmese, Chin, and Kachin people. Literature on spice plants published in English or Chinese from 1985 to 2024 were reviewed. The spice plants diversity, traditional knowledge, resources origin and conservation status were systematically collected. Use value (UV) and Jaccard index (JI) were analyzed.
Results: A total of 414 spice plant species (including varieties) belonging to 63 families and 206 genera were documented. Among 300 medicinal, 123 edibles, 95 flavoring and 74 dual-purpose (medicinal-edible) species, 54.83% were herbs, with leaves (46.62%) and roots (20.77%) as the main used parts. Spice plants with a UV greater than 0.2 are predominantly multifunctional medicinal-food species. Of all recorded species, 178 could only be collected from wild, 185 were cultivated; however, only about 12% of them have fully completed the transition from wild harvesting to cultivation and market sale. The Jaccard index of spice plants utilization across the three countries is relatively low (JI, 0.20-0.25), indicating the rich cultural diversity and distinct ethnobotanical traditions shaped by long-term adaptation to different ecological and cultural contexts in these regions. There were 52 (12.56%) species under protection or threaten, and 15 nationally protected or rare and endangered spice plants were identified for priority investigation, conservation and utilization.
Conclusions: This study provides the world’s first comprehensive and systematic ethnobotanical catalogue of spice plants utilized by local ethnic communities in the tropical regions of China, Myanmar, and Laos. It not only provides an initial intellectual prototype for the sustainable development and cross-border utilization of spice plant resources in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries, but also offers fundamental data and scientific case for promoting transboundary cultural and biodiversity conservation and contributes to the green development of the Belt and Road.

Key words: spice plants, ethnobotany, traditional knowledge, tropical regions of China, Myanmar and Laos, conservation and utilization