Ethnobotany of the Turkana: Use of plants by a pastoral people and their livestock in Kenya

Autor: W. T. W. Morgan
Rok vydání: 1981
Předmět:
Zdroj: Economic Botany. 35:96-130
ISSN: 1874-9364
0013-0001
Popis: Evidence from the south Turkana area of Kenya throws light on the manner and extent to which a nomadic pastoral people make use of the plant species in their environment. The Royal Geographical Society South Turkana Expedition spent 3 field seasons during 1968-70 collecting over an area of 9,500 km2 to the south and west of Lake Turkana (Fig. 1). Altitudes range from 251-1,375 m (Caukwell, 1971; Baker and Lovenbury, 1971). Ground conditions are variable, including crystalline metamorphics, lavas, sandstones and sands derived from these, and there are alkaline springs. Rainfall is believed to average less than 250 mm/yr with a rainy season normally during March-May, but highly variable in both quantity and periodicity (Gwynne, 1969; Morgan, 1971). A reconnaissance classification of the ecology of the area is provided by Hemming (1972) and a detailed account of a sample area by Morgan (1971). The dominant vegetation type is semidesert thorn scrub with Acacia tortilis (Forsk.) Hayne and A. reficiens Wawra and Peyr. ssp. misera (Vatke) Brenan prominent above small browse plants, commonly including Indigofera spinosa Forsk. and Sericocomopsis hildebrandtii Schinz. A belt of riverine forest along the Kerio river is dominated by well-developed Acacia tortilis and Cordia sinensis Lam. (synonyms: C. rothii Roem. and Schult. and C. gharaf (Forsk.) Aschers). The 3 collecting seasons may be characterized as dry; very dry; and receding rainy season; and it is believed that the 1,1 11 specimens collected are reasonably representative. From this collection, 512 species or subspecies were identified, consisting of 366 Dicotyledons and 101 Monocotyledons, including 65 Gramineae. The use made of the plants and their vernacular names were recorded at the time of collection, and a large proportion were further discussed by groups of informants at base camp. The results are presented in the Appendix. Gulliver (1950, 1955) referred briefly to the use made of plants in his study of Turkana society. Notes on Masai and Kipsigis use of plants were published following an ecological survey of the comparably pastoral but less arid Narok District of Kanya Masailand (Glover et al., 1966). Medicinal uses of plants in east Africa are summarised in Kokwaro (1976) and Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk (1962).
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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