This is a presentation recorded at the 2023 joint conference of the Society for Economic Botany and Society of Ethnobiology, held at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia from June 4-9, 2023.

#ethnobotany #ethnobiology #science #southafrica #medicinalplant

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Medicinal ethnobotany of the Vatsonga cultural group in South Africa

South Africa has a rich cultural diversity, with 11 official languages, each representing a cultural group. The Vatsonga people are distributed in two provinces (Limpopo and Mpumalanga), which begs the questions: 1. Is the use of medicinal plants between the different Tsonga locations similar? 2. Are the same vernacular names used? 3. Is there a correlation between the popularity of a plant and its usage? The aim was thus to identify medicinal plants used by the Vatsonga and their accompanying vernacular names. Structured interviews were conducted with 17 participants distributed among three villages (kaMhinga and kaNwamitwa in Limpopo and Ronaldsey in Mpumalanga). The data from the survey were analyzed using the correlation and ethnobotany packages in R. Rahman’s Similarity Index to measure the similarity between the Vatsonga villages. A total of 237 medicinal plants (216 species and 21 infraspecific taxa) were identified from 51 families. In Nwamitwa, 215 species and infraspecific taxa were identified, 131 in Mhinga and 118 in Ronaldsey. The overlap between kaMhinga and kaNwamitwa was 41%, kaMhinga and Ronaldsey was 36%, and kaNwamitwa and kaRonaldsey was 25%. Only 59 vernacular names were shared between kaMhinga and Ronaldsey, 92 in KaMhinga and kaNwamitwa, and 77 in Nwamitwa and Ronaldsey. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient between RFC and UV showed a significant relationship in all three villages. The study of the Vatsonga ethnobotany is ongoing but this comparative study has shown that each regional group is unique, suggesting a lack of knowledge sharing among the different Vatsonga locations.

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