Traditional Medicine Analysis and Sustainable Use of Korean Pond Wetland Plants in the Agricultural Landscape

• Main Authors: Jinkwan Son, Changhyun Kim, Minjung Park, Dukkyu Choi, Sung-Wook Yun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: traditional knowledge (TK); plant diversity; conservation; oriental medicine; agricultural landscape
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/15/5963

This study surveyed the most commonly observed plants at 40 pond wetlands in rural<b> </b>villages in Korea and assessed their use patterns in traditional medicine (TM) with reference to the contents of the Korea Traditional Knowledge Portal (KTKP). In this survey, 457 taxa in 108 families were identified. For these, there are use patterns in TM for 314 taxa; overall, 68.8% of the surveyed plants have uses in TM. The 314 taxa that have applications in TM involve 596 types of disease treatment and 771 types of efficacy. On average, for each taxon, there are 4.0 types of efficacy and 6.6 types of disease treatment. TM from 210 taxa have been described as applied to organs in 10 regions of the body: liver 123, lung 82, spleen 57, stomach 57, heart 45, large intestine 43, kidney 40, bladder 23, small intestine 16, and gall bladder 8. The results of this study will help support the conservation of pond wetlands that provide national biodiversity and various ecosystem services, by increasing the recognized value of pond wetlands even when they are no longer used in farming. Thus, this study can support educational materials for eco-experience and can be applied in the conservation of Korean pond wetlands.