認知・実用・雑草性
南部スーダン・アチョリ地域におけるヒトー植物関係
1987 年 1987 巻 31 号 p. 25-60
詳細
1987 年 1987 巻 31 号 p. 25-60
Man-plant relationships are tentatively categorized into four aspects. These are (1) men's cognition of plants, (2) men's utilization of plants, (3) plants' cognition of men and (4) plants' utilization of men, respectively. The first aspect has been mainly dealt with in the study of folk taxonomy and the second in the classical ethnobotany and economic botany. Last two viewpoints of anti-anthropo-centric nature may be difficult to understand for human being. Cultivated plants, however, can be a good example to explain. For instance, non-dehiscent wheat should recognize as well as utilize men as a sole agent of seed dispersal, and such recognition is directly concerned with the reproductive success of wheat.
Mutually benefitial relationships which can be found typically between agriculturist and cultivated plants, is called man-plant symbiotic relationships, and domestication is defined as their diachronic process.
In the present study, man-plant relationships in Acholiland are described in the viewpoints of (1) and (2). Hypothesis that the recognition of men by plants is most distinctively characterized by the weediness and/or colonizing ability of plants. This hypothesis may be indirectly evidenced by the recognition and utilization of plants by men.
Five folk categories of vegetation are recognized among the Acholi. Of the five, only the luul (forest) is refered as a habitat of some vernacular species. In contrast with luul, two other folk categories, paaco and potho are mentioned to categorize folk plant species. Paaco literally means “man's place” and potho is a noun form of the verb pita (cultivate).
The specimens of 320 folk vernacular species are identified. With each specimens, usage and habitat are inquired.
The analysis of data revealed that; (1) relatively large number of plants from paaco are recognized. (2) Plants from paaco are used as food more commonly than those from other habitat. (3) Plants from luul are frequently utilized for material culture. And, (4) most of plants from potho are used for foods. In a total of eighty-seven Linnaean species which can be regarded as weedy or with high weediness in botanical description of the flora, seventy-five species are recognized as plants from paaco, but no plants of stable habitat as from paaco. Therefore, it is concluded that weeds which respond well to the man's distrubance of the habitat are likely to be recognized and utilized among the Acholi.
