Abstract
A quantitative ethnobotanical field study of Zulu and Swazi traditional plant use was conducted for the first time at eDumbe, KwaZulu-Natal and Mkhondo, Mpumalanga respectively, to compare the uses of indigenous plants for food, medicine, crafts and other applications among these two language groups. The two study sites are only 80 km apart, with similar vegetation and plants species available in both areas. Even though much information on indigenous medicinal plants has already been widely recorded and reported in the literature, some people are still likely to have hitherto unrecorded indigenous knowledge about plants. The hypothesis was that Zulu-speaking people at eDumbe (a rural area) would have higher levels of indigenous knowledge than Swati-speaking people at Mkhondo (a semiurban area), perhaps due to the fact that they have originally emigrated from Eswatini (Swaziland) and have either lost some of their knowledge and adopted local customs. To test these ideas, the vernacular names and uses of 101 plant species from 52 families were recorded and compared to published Zulu and Swazi indigenous knowledge. This resulted in an inventory of 101 species. Quantitative data, obtained through formal interviews, were entered into a matrix table, where the numbers reflect the level of information on the plant use knowledge for each plant species and each of the 36 individual participants (18 from three villages in each area, with equal numbers of male and female participants). To assess the levels of plant use knowledge in schools, and to demonstrate the potential educational value of the Matrix Method in schools, 113 learners from three schools at eDumbe and three schools at Mkondo took part in a survey, using a selection of 13 well-known useful plant species. Cultural differences appeared to be unimportant, as the same plants species were known and used by both Zulu and Swazi people. Only minor quantitative differences were found between the two cultures...
M.Sc. (Botany)