%0 Journal Article
%A Sheng-Zehn Yang and Yueh-Ju Gao
%T A Preliminary Study on Diverse Plant Uses of Rukai Tribe in Wutai District of Pingtung County, Southern Taiwan
%D 2011
%J Taiwania
%V 56
%N 1
%P 7-16
%U https://taiwania.ntu.edu.tw/abstract/1051
%X The Rukai tribe is concentrated in the Wutai Township of Pingtung County, southern Taiwan. From 2000 to 2003 people of the Rukai in Wutai were interviewed on the traditional uses of plants and samples of such plant species were collected in an effort to remedy the situation of insufficient quantitative data on Taiwan’s ethnobotany. The number of citations per species and total number of citations were recorded in order to calculate diversity indices such as Shannon-Wiener index, evenness index, and rarefaction curves. Thirty-seven interviewed informants cited 245 plant species, which were then classified into thirteen types of usages, such as food, medicine, tools, and decoration. Among the 245 plant species, 93 species are used as food, 73 as tools, 52 for decoration and 45 for medicinal purposes. Informants described six types of usages for Hibiscus taiwanensis Hu and Vitex negundo L. Sambucus chinensis Nakai and Chamaesyce hirta (L.) Millsp. had the highest number of citations for medicinal usages. The Shannon-Wiener index was 2.27. The evenness values was 0.95, showing that the Wutai Rukai people had a low dominance concerning the uses of a few species and an equitability of plant uses. The diversity indices and the Coleman rarefaction curves of the Taiwan Rukai tribe could be available to compare ethnobotanical data with different areas.
%M doi:10.6165/tai.2011.56(1).7