Dusun Ethnobotany: Forest Knowledge and Nomenclature in Northern Borneo

• Published in: Journal of cultural geography 2006-03, Vol.23 (2), p.1-31
• Main Authors: Voeks, Robert A., bin Nyawa, Samhan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Ethnobotany; Social aspects
• ISSN: 0887-3631; 1940-6320
• DOI: 10.1080/08873630609478221

Ethnobotanical knowledge constitutes a primary nexus of nature and culture within traditional, subsistence societies. This paper examines the ethnobotanical knowledge domain and naming system maintained by the Dusun of northern Borneo (Brunei), a swidden cultivating group. Two elderly male Dusun collaborated in a census of old-growth and disturbed forest habitats. They identified and named 244 species, of which 87% serve either material or magical ends. Roughly 78% of the sample provide for basic human needs-shelter, food, and medicine. Plants employed for their structural or reproductive components provide a greater variety of services than species utilized primarily for medicinal compounds. Medicinal species are largely associated with disturbed rather than old-growth habitats. The Dusun plant taxonomy parallels its western scientific counterpart in some respects, but diverges in others. Ranks are recognized at the life form, intermediate, genus, and species levels. Most taxa are lumped into tree (kayuh), vine (akau), and rattan (uwai) life forms, jinx (sisil) and dermatitis (rangas) taxa constitute problematic covert groupings. Of the 120 scientific plant genera identified, 88.3% were associated with a single Dusun folk genus. Only 16% of the 141 named categories were identified as binomials, that is, a folk generic followed by a descriptive epithet, such as color, habit, geographical location, or sex.