%A LIU Guang-Hua-, SHE Chao-Wen-, JIANG Xiang-Hui-, DAN Shi-Bo-, ZENG Ting-Ting %T Ethnobotanical Activities at the DragonBoat Festival in Tongdao, Hunan Province %0 Journal Article %D 2013 %J Plant Diversity %R 10.7677/ynzwyj201313001 %P 472-478 %V 35 %N 4 %U {https://journal.kib.ac.cn/CN/abstract/article_33175.shtml} %8 2013-07-25 %X

Through longterm ethnobotanical investigation, we have discovered many ancient customs, including sacrificial, medicinal bathing, ornamental, and potherb customs, that take place at the traditional Dragon-Boat Festival in Tongdao County, Hunan Province. At this festival, people make full use of a large number of different plants when carrying out these customs. We recorded that plants hanging beside doors included 4 species, belonging to 4 different plant families and 4 genera; plants for bathing included 31 species, belonging to 20 families and 28 genera; while wild plants for healthcare included 47 species, belonging to 33 different families and 44 genera, most of which were wild medicinal plants having different functions. The uses of some of the plants recorded are reported for the first time. Reasons for the different uses of plants requires scientific investigation. Ethnobotanical knowledge is rich in the Dong communities and needs to be explored and studied comprehensively.