A Preliminary Study of Medicinal Plants Used by the Indigenous Thao People
Project background and goals
The author’s grandmother was an herbalist. She grew some commonly used herbs at home to use when needed. Upon graduating from college, I knew more plants than she did. Not long after, she passed away. I regretted not having learned from her or recorded her knowledge.
I was hired by the National Museum of Natural Science to help set up and operate its Botanical Garden. My research specialty is the ethnobotany of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. Just as the Botanical Garden was completed, the Council of Indigenous Peoples was established and began conducting biogeographical surveys. I was fortunate to have joined the National Taiwan University team in charge of botanical research. As such, I had the opportunity to come in contact with the plant cultures of various ethnic groups. As I interviewed Amis elders, I heard that mud from scoliid wasp nests could be used to treat tonsilitis. This was the same prescription that my grandmother used. It was then that I discovered her indigenous ancestry.
In recent years, the elders that have been interviewed have passed away one by one. This has pushed me to quickly compile their traditional wisdom using scientific methods to give to future generations. Therefore, I started with the plants used as medicines by various tribes.
In 1938, Kinji Yamada completed a sixth volume of a survey of medicinal plants used by Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. With each entry, he included the ethnic group and community. This can be considered the pioneering work in recording the use of medicinal plants among Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. However, in that book, there are no records of ethnic groups that were living on the plains, such as the Thao, Amis, Sakizaya, and Kavalan groups. Moreover, information from the Sediq and Truku tribes is included with that of the Atayal tribe and information from the Rukai tribe is included with that of the Paiwan tribe. Therefore, this introduction to the indigenous use of medicinal plants begins with the Thao. As the elders of the Thao tribe can speak Taiwanese (Hokkien), the author was able to directly communicate with them, which made conducting interviews easier.
