Plants Utilization of Tai Lue at Bann Tapapao Community Forest Mae Tha District, Lamphun Province

Abstract

The objective of this study was to learn different aspects of the Tai Lue culture, particularly those related to ethnobotanical knowledge of the Tai Lue community. A 100 m x 100 m permanent plot covering deciduous dipterocarp forest and mixed deciduous forest was set up within the Ta Pa Pao community forest Mae Tha district, Lumphun province. Information on all plant species and their uses were recorded and focus groups were selected for an interview in 2015. It was found that the Tai Lue people preferred to set up a community close to a river with access to agricultural land and forest. There were 158 species, 104 genera, and 65 families of plants were found. Among these, 112 species, 85 genera, and 42 families had ethnobotanical implications. Out of 7 categories of usage, construction and fuel wood category was the most common for the total of 59 species were used such as Cratoxylum cochinchinense, Gluta usitata and Dendrocalamus membranaceus and local wisdom on ethnobotany is transferred from the old generation to new generation for instant how to was ethnobotany handbook. The Ta Pa Pao community forest could still provide sufficient plant resources for people in the village due to the imposition of systematic rules on access and utilization of forest resources.