全 文 :食用植物民族植物学研究进展
———基于Web of Science文献计量与知识图谱分析∗
耿彦飞1ꎬ2ꎬ 杨 雅1ꎬ 张 宇1ꎬ 张玲玲1ꎬ 王雨华1∗∗
(1 中国科学院昆明植物研究所资源植物与生物技术重点实验室ꎬ 昆明 650201ꎻ 2 中国科学院大学ꎬ 北京 100049)
摘要: 基于传统食用植物研究的主要内容、 研究现状和研究方法ꎬ 以及未来的研究趋势ꎬ 采用 “食用植
物”、 “民族植物学” 等关键词从 Web of Science数据库中检索了 1991年至 2014年 6月 30日前发表的相关
文献ꎬ 并用 CITESPACE软件ꎬ 分析了食用植物民族植物学研究的相关文献ꎬ 旨在发现其研究历史、 现状
和未来的发展趋势ꎬ 为食用植物民族植物学研究工作者提供参考ꎮ 通过文献检索ꎬ 共检索到 1991-2014年
间发表的 954篇文献ꎮ 分析这 954篇文献及其引文的研究内容后发现: 传统食用植物知识的记录是过去和
现在研究的重点ꎻ 而传统食用植物研究中的定量研究方法、 传统知识的传承、 当地食用资源的管理和食用
植物的营养、 化学成分分析等是未来食用民族植物学研究的重点ꎮ
关键词: 文献计量ꎻ 食用植物ꎻ 民族植物学ꎻ 传统知识ꎻ 原住民ꎻ CITESPACE软件
中图分类号: Q 948 文献标志码: A 文章编号: 2095-0845(2015)04-479-12
Research Development of Food Plant Ethnobotany
—Bibliometric and Mapping Knowledge Domains Analysis Based on Web of Science
GENG Yan ̄fei1ꎬ2ꎬ YANG Ya1ꎬ ZHANG Yu1ꎬ ZHANG Ling ̄ling1ꎬ WANG Yu ̄hua1∗∗
(1 Key Laboratory of Economic Plants and Biotechnologyꎬ Kunming Institute of Botanyꎬ Chinese Academy of Sciencesꎬ
Kunming 650201ꎬ Chinaꎻ 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciencesꎬ Beijing 100049ꎬ China)
Abstract: This studyꎬ with the purpose of summarizing the large aggregation of Food Plant Ethnobotany studies to find
research historyꎬ current status and probable future trendꎬ is based on the following questions: (1) What have been
studied on traditional food plants previously? (2) What are studying on traditional food plants at presentꎬ and how?
(3) What will be studied on traditional food plants in future? To conduct this surveyꎬ we searched for papers in Web
of Science databasesꎬ using combinations of keywordsꎬ and the survey was limited to the studies published before June
30thꎬ 2014. CITESPACE software was used to analyze the cited references of these papers. Nine hundreds and fifty ̄four
papers published from 1991 to 2014 were found. Analyzing these 954 papers and their cited referencesꎬ we discovered
that documentation of traditional food plants uses is the main study field in past and at present. Quantitative methodsꎬ
dissemination of traditional knowledgeꎬ proper management of local plants resourcesꎬ and nutritional and pharmaceutical
components of food plants will be studied more in future. This paper will help to get a clue of Food Plant Ethnobotany.
Key words: Bibliometricꎻ Food plantsꎻ Ethnobotanyꎻ Traditional knowledgeꎻ Indigenous peopleꎻ CITESPACE
People have interacted with environment in many
ways throughout historyꎬ and they have formed in ̄
digenous culture and have acquired plant knowledge
over thousands of years of living with nature (Albu ̄
querque et al.ꎬ 2013ꎻ Pranceꎬ 1991). Ethnobotanyꎬ
established more than one hundred yearꎬ which is
植 物 分 类 与 资 源 学 报 2015ꎬ 37 (4): 479~490
Plant Diversity and Resources DOI: 10.7677 / ynzwyj201514155
∗
∗∗
Funding: General Program of National Nature Science Foundation of China (31270379) and S & T Basic Work Program (2012FY110300)
Author for correspondenceꎻ E ̄mail: wangyuhua@mail kib ac cn
Received date: 2014-11-18ꎬ Accepted date: 2015-03-27
作者简介: 耿彦飞 (1989-) 女ꎬ 硕士ꎬ 主要从事民族植物学、 民族生态学研究ꎮ E ̄mail: gengyanfei@mail kib ac cn
defined “ The study of interactions between people
and plants” (Martinꎬ 1995)ꎬ is a changing science
and it is important to consider where we were in
pastꎬ where we are todayꎬ and where we will be in
future (Pranceꎬ 1991)ꎬ especially on ethnobotani ̄
cal knowledge of edible plants. About 10 000 edible
plants speciesꎬ including the cultivated and the non ̄
cultivatedꎬ have been used or are being used for
food since time immemorialꎬ although only three
crops supply about 50% of human energy intake
(Tardío et al.ꎬ 2006). The importance of food plants
is not only about their value in human nutritionꎬ but
also about the folk traditions they carry ( Ranfaꎬ
2014). A Bite of Chinaꎬ which is a documentary tele ̄
vision series on the history of foodꎬ eating and cook ̄
ingꎬ receives widespread popularity recently. The
reasons why it gets so popular are diverse. It famil ̄
iarizes the audience with the abundant food sources
in China and the local cuisines for one. Also it intro ̄
duces the Chinese food culture and local customsꎬ
which regards foods as tastes of homeꎬ memories of
childhoodꎬ joy of work and vision of life. The knowl ̄
edge of plant usesꎬ not only written in Chinese
ancient booksꎬ such as The Book of Songsꎬ has also
been recorded in many countries and has existed as
long as we have existed.
Food Plantsꎬ as an important area of Ethnobo ̄
tanical researchꎬ has made many breakthroughs in
quantitative methods and resources conservationꎬ
such as CI ( Cultural Importance Index) ( Tardío
and Pardo ̄de ̄Santayanaꎬ 2008) and Sierra de Hua ̄
utla Biosphere Reserve (Beltran et al.ꎬ 2014). In
the context of increasing interest in the health bene ̄
fits or the potential of foodsꎬ studies on food plants
are valuable and productive (Tardío et al.ꎬ 2005).
This studyꎬ with the purpose of summarizing the
large aggregation of Food Plant Ethnobotany studies
to find research historyꎬ current status and probable
future trendꎬ is based on the following questions:
(1) What have been studied on edible plants previ ̄
ously? (2) What are studying at presentꎬ and how?
(3) What will be studied on food plants in future?
1 Methods
The present study was based on a research re ̄
viewꎬ focusing on the results of primary search car ̄
ried out in the end of June 2014. The search used
combinations of keywords in the Web of Science
(www. isiknowledge. com) database. The following
keywords were used in the database searches: edible
plantꎬ food plantꎬ wild edible plantꎬ wild food plantꎬ
indigenous knowledgeꎬ traditional knowledgeꎬ local
knowledgeꎬ ethnobiology and ethnobotany.
CITESPACE III software was used to analyze the
cited references of these searched papers. It was de ̄
signed for progressive knowledge domain visualization
to visualize and analyze trends and patterns in scientif ̄
ic literature (Chenꎬ 2004). It can be used for detecting
research fronts and intellectual bases (Chenꎬ 2006).
Our procedures were as below. Firstlyꎬ we input the set
of bibliographic data files about literatures downloaded
from Web of Science to CITESPACE. Secondlyꎬ we set
the best fit top N per slice and threshold interpolationꎬ
and selected the appropriate pruning way for the data.
Thirdlyꎬ we analyzed the network in depth.
2 Results and discussion
Nine hundreds and fifty ̄four literatures published
during 1991 to 2014 (June) were foundꎬ including
all kinds of papersꎬ such as reviews and articles.
2 1 Analysis on 954 literatures
The number of 954 papers published per year
between 1991 and 2014 showed variationꎬ and it
reached the peak point (128) in 2012 (Fig 1). O ̄
verallꎬ it represented a rising trend.
2 1 1 The authors’countries and affiliations
These papers were published by 107 countries
and regions. USA was the country with the most sub ̄
stantial published papersꎬ which were 143 papers.
The other top nine countries were India (111 records)ꎬ
UK (73)ꎬ Italy (69)ꎬ Canada (55)ꎬ Mexico (53)ꎬ
Brazil (52)ꎬ Spain (48)ꎬ Germany (39)ꎬ France
(37) (Table 1). It mainly spread in developed Eu ̄
rope countriesꎬ developed America countries and de ̄
veloping Asia countries.
084 植 物 分 类 与 资 源 学 报 第 37卷
Fig 1 Papers published per year
Table 1 Productive countries of publishing 954 literatures
Country Records Percent of 954 Country Records Percent of 954
USA 143 14 99 China 33 3 46
India 111 11 64 Netherlands 30 3 15
UK 73 7 65 Australia 27 2 83
Italy 69 7 23 Argentina 26 2 73
Canada 55 5 77 South Africa 26 2 73
Mexico 53 5 56 Sweden 26 2 73
Brazil 52 5 45 Denmark 23 2 41
Spain 48 5 03 Belgium 22 2 31
Germany 39 4 09 Poland 18 1 89
France 37 3 88 Switzerland 18 1 89
Pakistan 36 3 77 Turkey 17 1 78
Most productive organization was National Au ̄
tonomous University of Mexico ( The Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México) with 27 papersꎬ fol ̄
lowed by Chinese Academy of Sciences with a record
of 17. Other productive organizations belonged to U ̄
nited Statesꎬ UKꎬ Canadaꎬ and so on (Table 2).
2 1 2 The related journals
These 954 published literatures were from jour ̄
nalsꎬ books and international symposium. Top ten
source publications and their impact factors can be
seen in Table 3. Economic Botanyꎬ Acta Horticultu ̄
rae and Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
are the Top three source publicationsꎬ accounting for
10 69%ꎬ 6 81% and 6 39% respectively. The high ̄
est impact factor of the Top ten source publications
Table 2 Productive organizations with records above ten
Organizations Country Records Percentof 954
Univ Nacl Autonoma
Mexico Mexico 27 2 83
Chinese Acad Sci China 17 1 782
Univ London UK 16 1 677
Mcgill Univ Canada 15 1 572
Univ Gastron Sci Italy 15 1 572
Quaid I Azam Univ Pakistan 13 1 363
Wageningen Univ Netherlands 13 1 363
Univ Rzeszow Poland 12 1 258
Cent Agr Univ India 10 1 048
Emory Univ USA 10 1 048
Swedish Univ Agr Sci Sweden 10 1 048
Univ Calif Davis USA 10 1 048
1844期 GENG Yan ̄fei et al.: Research Development of Food Plant Ethnobotany: —Bibliometric and Mapping
Table 3 Main source publications of 954 literatures
Source publications Records Percent of 954 Impact factor (2013)
Economic Botany 102 10 692 1 925
Acta Horticulturae 65 6 813
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 61 6 394 2 42
Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 54 5 66 0 492
Journal of Ethnopharmacology 51 5 346 2 755
Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 28 2 935 1 593
Pakistan Journal of Botany 23 2 411 0 872
Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 14 1 468 0 585
Biodiversity and Conservation 14 1 468 2 264
International Symposium on Underutilized Plants for Food Security
Nutrition Income and Sustainable Development 14 1 468
was 2 755ꎬ which was from Journal of Ethnophar ̄
macology. Comparing to experimental science disci ̄
plinesꎬ journals about Food Plant Ethnobotany had a
relatively lower impact factor.
2 1 3 The most active authors
Of all authorsꎬ Pieroni Andrea stood out for his
papersꎬ with records of 29. Most of his studies con ̄
ducted in southern Italy on traditional use of wild
food. He mainly focused on documentation of tradi ̄
tional food knowledgeꎬ evaluation of traditional vege ̄
table sources and contribution to modern ethnobotan ̄
ical museology and resource exploitation (Mustafa et
al.ꎬ 2012ꎻ Pieroni et al.ꎬ 2005). In his opinionꎬ
food uses were changing fast worldwideꎬ and it was
affected strongly by socio ̄economic and cultural pa ̄
rametersꎬ as well as religion and history (Nebel et
al.ꎬ 2006). The other 9 authors ( Table 4) with
most records also made many contributions to this ar ̄
ea. All the researchers made differences to the de ̄
velopment of Food Plant Ethnobotany.
Table 4 Top ten productive authors
Author Records Percent of 954
PIERONI A 29 3 04
HEINRICH M 17 1 782
CASAS A 13 1 363
QUAVE CL 12 1 258
SINGH RK 12 1 258
ŁUCZAJ Ł 11 1 153
CABALLERO J 10 1 048
PARDO ̄DE ̄SANTAYANA M 10 1 048
TARDÍO J 10 1 048
RIVERA D 9 0 943
2 1 4 Citation distribution
Similar to the numbers of papers publishedꎬ the
numbers of papers cited reached its maximum in
2013 and represented a steady rising trend (Fig 2).
Totallyꎬ these papers were cited 12905 timesꎬ and
the number of papers citing these 954 papers was
10108ꎬ both of which varied over time. Abt (1998)
and Albuquerque et al. (2013) had stated that the
duration of the researchꎬ the area of knowledge and
international collaboration influenced the citations of
papers.
Top ten papers with highest cited number were
listed (Table 5). Two of them were about study meth ̄
ods (Phillips and Gentryꎬ 1993aꎬ b). One paper sta ̄
ted that alteration of biota in ecosystems via species
invasions and extinctions caused by human activities
had changed ecosystems goods and services in plenty
of casesꎬ and using practices that maintained a di ̄
versity of organisms of different functional effect and
functional response types would help preserve man ̄
agement measures ( Hooper et al.ꎬ 2005). Some
claimed that herbs taken like foods can be safer than
conventional drugs ( Ernstꎬ 1998). Overallꎬ tradi ̄
tional knowledge on food plants are comprehensive.
2 1 5 Study areas and collaborations between coun ̄
tries and organizations
Study sites of 954 literatures covered the major ̄
ity of countries and regions—the developing and the
developed. The most popular study area was India.
Of 111 literatures published by Indiaꎬ 100 articles
284 植 物 分 类 与 资 源 学 报 第 37卷
Fig 2 Cited times of 954 papers per year
Table 5 Top ten papers with highest cited number and their source publications
Source publication Title Publishedyear
Total cited
times
Ecological Monographs Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge 2005 1880
American Journal of
Medicine Harmless herbs? A review of the recent literature 1998 302
Plant and Soil Beans (Phaseolus spp.) ̄model food legumes 2003 270
Economic Botany The useful plants of Tambopataꎬ Peru. 1. statistical hypotheses tests with a newquantitative technique 1993 176
New Phytologist The impact of Aboriginal landscape burning on the Australian biota 1998 173
Pedobiologia The feeding ecology of earthworms ̄A review 2006 142
Aquatic Botany Organic carbon dynamics in mangrove ecosystems: A review 2008 139
International Journal of
Food Microbiology
High pressure carbon dioxide inactivation of microorganisms in foods: The pastꎬ
the present and the future 2007 138
Economic Botany The useful plants of Tambopataꎬ Peru. 2. Additional hypothesis ̄testing inquantitative ethnobotany 1993 129
Annual Review of
Entomology
Wild hosts of pentatomids: ecological significance and role in their pest status
on crops 1997 120
were conducted in Indiaꎬ except one conducted in
Nepalꎬ one in Ethiopiaꎬ one in Bangladesh and
eight were reviews with no specific study sites. But
of 143 literatures published by United Statesꎬ only 9
were carried out in United Statesꎬ and the rest of
them were mostly carried out in developing Asianꎬ
Latin America (like Mexico) and African countriesꎬ
few in developed European countries. Generallyꎬ hot
spots mainly centralized in developing countries or
primitive tribes inhabited by ethnic groups of develo ̄
ped countries. They differed with the countries who
published these papers remarkably. We can conclude
that ethnobotanical studies of food plants used by in ̄
digenous people were widely and broadly in pro ̄
gressꎬ and developing countries were gaining more
attention.
At the same timeꎬ the joint research projects were
more common than everꎬ partly due to the sophisti ̄
cated communication technology. Taking 220 litera ̄
tures out of 954 literatures arbitrarilyꎬ we found that
there were 71 papers (of 220 papers) existing inter ̄
national collaborations. The co ̄authorships between
United States and other countries accounted for major
partsꎬ 27 papers totally. UKꎬ with 17 collaborated
3844期 GENG Yan ̄fei et al.: Research Development of Food Plant Ethnobotany: —Bibliometric and Mapping
papersꎬ was second to USAꎬ following by Polandꎬ
with a record of 11. And the country which Poland
cooperated with frequently was China whose record
was 10. International collaborations were also found
in following countries: Spain and Russiaꎬ Netherlands
and Ethiopiaꎬ Belgium and Denmarkꎬ Swedenꎬ Nepal
and Japanꎬ France and Togo. We may reach a con ̄
clusion that developed countries were inclined to
perform the research in developing countries with the
help of local researchers.
2 2 Analysis on the cited references of 954 papers
The new features of CITESPACE III make it ca ̄
pable of addressing following issues: (a) identifying
the nature of a research frontꎬ (b) detecting emer ̄
ging trends. The research fronts referred to the state
of the art in Food Plant Ethnobotanyꎬ consisting of
the citing articles. Howeverꎬ the intellectual bases
included the cited articlesꎬ as well as cited clusters
(de Solla Priceꎬ 1965ꎻ Perssonꎬ 1994).
2 2 1 Research domains
When running CITESPACEꎬ time slicing was
chosen two years per slice. The threshold interpola ̄
tionsꎬ after several repeated attempts to find the best
number for nodes and linksꎬ were set as (2ꎬ 3ꎬ 10)ꎬ
(4ꎬ 5ꎬ 20) and (5ꎬ 6ꎬ 20)ꎬ the node type selected
cited referenceꎬ and term sources selected titleꎬ ab ̄
stractꎬ descriptors and identifers. The CITESPACE
configuration used for visualizing the terrorism re ̄
search dataset (1991-2014) was shown (Table 6).
Running the batch modeꎬ a network with 14 co ̄cita ̄
tion clustersꎬ 108 nodesꎬ and 447 links was visual ̄
ized (Fig 3). At the same timeꎬ modularity Q and
mean silhouette were calculatedꎬ which were 0 4745
and 0 5586 respectively. The modularity Qꎬ which
ranges from 0 to 1ꎬ measures the extent to which a
network can be divided into independent blocks. A
high value of modularity Q indicates a well ̄structure ̄
d networkꎬ whereas a low value represents a network
that cannot be divided into clusters with clear bound ̄
aries (Newmanꎬ 2006ꎻ Shibata et al.ꎬ 2008). The
silhouette valueꎬ ranging from -1 to 1ꎬ suggests the
uncertainty involved in identifying the nature of a
clusterꎬ and the average silhouette width provides an
evaluation of clustering validity (Rousseeuwꎬ 1987ꎻ
Chen et al.ꎬ 2010). Citation tree rings showed the cita ̄
tion history of an article (Fig 4). The color of a cita ̄
tion ring represented the time of corresponding papers.
The thickness of a ring was proportional to the number
of citations in a given time slice (Chenꎬ 2006).
The network represented what the references ci ̄
ted by 954 papers studiedꎬ and was divided into 14
co ̄citation clustersꎬ and 8 clusters were prominent
(Fig 3). The largest 5 clusters were summarizedꎬ
and the sizeꎬ silhouette value and label (by TFIDFꎬ
LLR and MI) were included (Table 7). Labels cho ̄
sen by TFIDF (term frequency by inverted document
frequency) tend to reflect the most salient aspect of
a clusterꎬ whereas those selected by LLR (log ̄like ̄
lihood ratio) and MI (mutual information) incline to
represent a unique aspect of a cluster (Chen et al.ꎬ
2010ꎻ Salton et al.ꎬ 1975ꎻ Dunningꎬ 1993). The
largest cluster (#0) had 23 members and a silhou ̄
ette value of 0 593. It was labeled as wild by LLRꎬ
Emporda by TFIDFꎬ and chemical by MI. The most
active citer to the cluster is Schunkoꎬ Christoph
(2010)—organic farmers use of wild food plants and
fungi in a hilly area in Styria (Austria). It first devel ̄
oped the Culinary Use Value (CUV) to quantify the
culinary importance of plant speciesꎬ and documented
Table 6 The Citespace configuration used for visualizing the
terrorism research dataset (1991-2014)
2 ̄year slices Criteria Space Nodes Links / all
1991-1992 2│3│0 1 223 0 0 / 0
1993-1994 2│3│0 12 389 15 45 / 55
1995-1996 2│3│0 13 660 6 3 / 3
1997-1998 3│4│0 15 1534 0 0 / 0
1999-2000 3│4│0 17 1247 1 0 / 0
2001-2002 3│4│0 18 2354 16 55 / 65
2003-2004 4│5│0 2 2892 1 0 / 0
2005-2006 4│5│0 2 3646 7 19 / 20
2007-2008 4│5│0 2 4609 6 12 / 12
2009-2010 4│5│0 2 7261 6 9 / 11
2011-2012 4│5│0 2 12454 53 208 / 818
2013-2014 5│6│0 2 9850 36 120 / 381
484 植 物 分 类 与 资 源 学 报 第 37卷
Fig 3 A 107 ̄node network of co ̄cited articles on food plants
studies (1991-2014) based on twelve 2 ̄year slices
Fig 4 Citation tree rings denote the citation
history of an article
Table 7 Summary of the largest 5 clusters
Cluster ID Size Silhouette Label (TFIDF) Label (LLR) Label (MI) mean(Cited Year)
0 23 0 593 (8 51) Emporda wild (16 03ꎬ 1 0E ̄4) chemical 2005
1 20 0 633 (6 04) debub debub (9 12ꎬ 0 005) Peruvian 1999
2 19 0 715 (9 95) review Estonia (25 39ꎬ 1 0E ̄4) parts 2008
3 14 0 934 (10 98) chemobiology chemobiology (45 18ꎬ 1 0E ̄4) introduced 1991
4 10 1 (12 42) Tambopata Peru (61 81ꎬ 1 0E ̄4) (Balearic) 1984
the knowledge about gathering and use of some wild
food species among farmers in the hill country east of
Graz. The second largest cluster (#1) had 20 mem ̄
bers and a silhouette value of 0 633. It was labeled
as debub by both LLR and TFIDFꎬ and as Peruvian
by MI. The most active citer to the cluster is Grivetti
(2000)ꎬ value of traditional foods in meeting macro ̄
and micronutrient needs: the wild plant connection.
The authors stated that many macro ̄ and micronutri ̄
ent ̄dense wild species deserved more attention but
lacked of adequate nutrient databasesꎬ but limit edu ̄
cational efforts were needed to improve diets in many
Third World areas whether by region or nation. The
surge of public interest in food plants may stem from
numerous studies that revealed roles played by less ̄
er ̄known species meeting macro ̄ and micronutrient
needs and being at risk (Grivetti and Oglesꎬ 2000).
The third largest cluster (#2) has 19 members and a
silhouette value of 0 715. It is labeled as Estonia by
LLRꎬ review by TFIDFꎬ and parts by MI. The most
active citer to the cluster was Kalle (2012)ꎬ histori ̄
cal ethnobotanical review of wild edible plants of Es ̄
tonia ( 1770s - 1960s). It reviewed of wild plants
used by the residents of present day Estonia during
the 1770s - 1960sꎬ and 22 sources were analyzed
which addressed historical ethnographical accounts
of the use of wild food plants. The 4th largest cluster
(# 3) had 14 members and a silhouette value of
0 934. It was labeled as chemobiology by both LLR
and TFIDFꎬ and as introduced by MI. The most ac ̄
tive citer to the cluster was Gottlieb (2002)ꎬ inte ̄
gration of ethnobotany and phytochemistry: dream or
reality? It firstly compared the wealth of folk ̄infor ̄
mation based on “ traditional knowledge” with the
efficacy of a chemo ̄biological background based on
scientific knowledgeꎬ which was novel. The 5th lar ̄
gest cluster (#4) had 10 members and a silhouette
value of 1. It was labeled as Peru by LLRꎬ Tam ̄
bopata by TFIDFꎬ and (Balearic by MI. The most
active citer to the cluster was Phillips (1993a)—the
useful plants of Tambopataꎬ Peruꎬ I. statistical hy ̄
potheses tests with a new quantitative technique.
5844期 GENG Yan ̄fei et al.: Research Development of Food Plant Ethnobotany: —Bibliometric and Mapping
Phillips first introduced use value of each species for
each informantꎬ which was the milestone in quantita ̄
tive ethnobotany and laid solid foundation for new
quantitative methods (Phillips and Gentryꎬ 1993aꎬ
b). Also Caroline used Bayesian approach to do hy ̄
pothesis test for over ̄ and underused plant families
(Weckerle et al.ꎬ 2011). Now many more statistical
software or index are used in analyzing dataꎬ such as
SPSS softwareꎬ Jaccard’s similarity index and Pear ̄
son correlation coefficient (Tangjitman et al.ꎬ 2013ꎻ
Junsongduang et al.ꎬ 2014).
Cluster 0ꎬ 1ꎬ 3ꎬ 6ꎬ 7ꎬ 10 represented that eth ̄
nobotanical studies of edible plants were under ̄con ̄
ductedꎬ far from ethnobotanical studies of medicinal
plants. Besidesꎬ we summarized 33 key ̄node pa ̄
persꎬ extracted from networks of figure 3 when using
CITESPACE ( cited frequencies above 16) ( Table
8)ꎬ which also represented the intellectual bases.
The centrality value in the tables measured the be ̄
tweenness for each node in merged network. From
these 33 papersꎬ we were told that food plants and
mushrooms had often been ignored (Pieroni et al.ꎬ
2005). But the relationship between edible plants
and medicinal plants were intimate (Pieroniꎬ 2001).
In southern Italyꎬ non ̄domesticated food vegetable
liakra was consumed as functional food (Pieroni et
al.ꎬ 2002). Besidesꎬ the role of Food Plant Ethnob ̄
otany was to be more than just compiling lists of
plants used in indigenous food systemsꎬ so methods
used in edible plants studies tended to be more
quantitative than ever. The same to medicinal plants
studiesꎬ obviously the quantitative methodology be ̄
tween them can be swapped to each other. To enable
comparative evaluations and have a better under ̄
standing of the cultural importance of certain groups
of plants intra ̄ and interculturallyꎬ standardized
methodologies particularly should be adopted. The
cultural importance index was defined by Javier
Tardío in 2007 to evaluate the plant use value and
compare the plant knowledge among different cul ̄
tures (Tardío and Pardo ̄De ̄Santayanasꎬ 2008). An ̄
drea Pieroni invented Cultural Food Significance In ̄
dex (CFSI) to calculate the cultural significance of
wild food plants in 2001ꎬ which took quotation fre ̄
quencyꎬ availabilityꎬ typology of used partsꎬ frequency
of useꎬ kind and number of the food usesꎬ taste ap ̄
preciationꎬ and perceived role as a food ̄medicine
into consideration (Pieroniꎬ 2001). Roberto Garibay ̄
Orijel in 2007 established Edible Mushrooms Cul ̄
tural Significance Index with modifying Pieroni ’ s
CFSI (Garibay ̄Orijel et al.ꎬ 2007). Howeverꎬ many
more detailed studies are needed to obtain a compre ̄
hensive picture of plant ̄human interactions (Ertugˇꎬ
2000).
2 2 2 Research fronts
A research front is identified based on such
burst terms extracted from titlesꎬ abstractsꎬ descrip ̄
torsꎬ and identifiers of bibliographic records. These
terms are subsequently used as labels of clusters.
Nodes with high centrality were marked with purple
rings which were known as turning points in the visu ̄
alization for easy recognition (Freemanꎬ 1977ꎬ 1979ꎻ
Chenꎬ 2005). It bridged different clustersꎬ which
made transitions between transient research fronts
traceable in terms of citations and co ̄citations.
The hot words in Figure 5 can show that ethno ̄
botany had 259 times of citation and conservation 93
timesꎬ and other frequent cited words were medici ̄
nal ̄plants ( 88 times)ꎬ plants ( 80)ꎬ biodiversity
(73)ꎬ knowledge ( 63)ꎬ food ( 54)ꎬ medicinal
plants (52)ꎬ diversity (50)ꎬ traditional knowledge
(45). Once againꎬ the close connections between
food and medicine were provedꎬ whereas medicine
and food shaded into one another. And Siraisi
(2009) stated that “ the formal distinction between
them was that food was assimilated by the bodyꎬ
whereas medicine assimilated the body to itself ” .
That medicine may be food and food may be medi ̄
cine was well establishedꎬ and it was difficult to
draw a line between food and medicine (Pieroni et
al.ꎬ 2002ꎻ Leonti et al.ꎬ 2006). Alsoꎬ little was
known about the practice of food medicine and the
role medicinal cuisines (Pieroniꎬ 2000). Besidesꎬ
little attention had been paid to functional foods and
684 植 物 分 类 与 资 源 学 报 第 37卷
Table 8 Co ̄cited papers with co ̄cited frequencies above 16
Co ̄cited
Frequencies Title Author Centrality
Published
year
35 Ethnobotany: a methods manual MARTIN GJ 0 00 1995
34 Food for two seasons: Culinary uses of non ̄cultivated local vegetables and mush ̄rooms in a south Italian village PIERONI A 0 00 2005
34 The useful plants of Tambopataꎬ Peru: i. statistical hypotheses tests with a newquantitative technique1 PHILLIPS O 0 04 1993
34 Use of non ̄crop food vascular plants in Montseny biosphere reserve (CataloniaꎬIberian Peninsula) BONET MA 0 03 2002
32 Medicinal plants and food medicines in the folk traditions of the upper LuccaProvinceꎬ Italy PIERONI A 0 10 2002
31 Ethnobotanical review of wild edible plants in Spain TARDIO J 0 05 2006
29 The useful plants of Tambopataꎬ Peru: ii. additional hypothesis testing in quanti ̄tative ethnobotany 1 PHILLIPS O 0 00 1993
27 Ethnopharmacology of liakra: traditional weedy vegetables of the Arbëreshë of theVulture area in southern Italy PIERONI A 0 29 2000
27 Wild gathered food plants in the European mediterranean: a comparative analysis 1 LEONTI M 0 00 2006
27 Selected guidelines for ethnobotanical research: a field manual ALEXIADES MN 0 01 1996
26 The importance of weeds in ethnopharmacology STEPP JR 0 06 2001
26 Ethnobotany : principles and applications COTTON CM 0 04 1996
25 Wild food plants traditionally used in the province of Madridꎬ central Spain 1 TARDIO J 0 05 2005
25 Food as medicine and medicine as food an adaptive framework for the interpreta ̄tion of plant utilization among the Hausa of northern Nigeria ETKIN NL 0 12 1982
23 Cultural importance indices: a comparative analysis based on the useful wildplants of southern Cantabria (northern Spain) 1 TARDIO J 0 03 2008
23 Wild edible plants and their traditional use in the human nutrition in Bosnia ̄Herzegovina REDZIC SJ 0 01 2006
23 Gathered wild food plants in the upper valley of the Serchio River (Garfagnana)ꎬCentral Italy 1 PIERONI A 0 01 1999
22 Wild vascular plants gathered for consumption in the Polish countryside: a review ŁUCZAJ Ł 0 00 2007
22 Edible and tended wild plantsꎬ traditional ecological knowledge and agroecology TURNER NJ 0 01 2011
21 Wild and semi ̄domesticated food plant consumption in seven circum ̄Mediterra ̄nean areas
HADJICHAMBIS
AC 0 01 2008
20 Quantitative ethnobotany and the case for conservation in Ammonia PRANCE GT 0 00 1987
20 Traditional knowledge of wild edible plants used in the northwest of the IberianPeninsula (Spain and Portugal): a comparative study
PARDO ̄DE ̄
SANTAYANA M 0 08 2007
20 Patterns of use and knowledge of wild edible plants in distinct ecological environ ̄ments: a case study of a Mapuche community from northwestern Patagonia LADIO AH 0 01 2004
20 Ethnobiological classification: principles of categorization of plants and animalsin traditional societies BERLIN B 0 00 1992
19 The importance of a taste. A comparative study on wild food plant consumption intwenty ̄one local communities in Italy GHIRARDINI M 0 02 2007
18 Evaluation of the cultural significance of wild food botanicals traditionally con ̄sumed in Northwestern Tuscanyꎬ Italy PIERONI A 0 00 2001
18 Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities MYERS N 0 00 2000
18 Medicinal cuisines: diet and ethopharmacology ETKIN NL 0 01 1996
18 Studies on pharmaceutical ethnobotany in the regions of L’Alt Empordà and LesGuilleries (Cataloniaꎬ Iberian Peninsula) BONET MA 0 00 1999
17 Changes in the utilization of wild green vegetables in Poland since the 19th cen ̄tury: a comparison of four ethnobotanical surveys ŁUCZAJ Ł 0 03 2010
17 Herbal remedies of the Luo of Siaya Districtꎬ Kenya: establishing quantitativecriteria for consensus 1 JOHNS T 0 00 1990
17 Food medicine and minor nourishment in the folk traditions of central Italy(Marcheꎬ Abruzzo and Latium) GUARRERA PM 0 05 2003
16 The gathering and consumption of wild edible plants in the Campoo (CantabriaꎬSpain)
PARDO ̄DE ̄
SANTAYANA M 0 01 2005
7844期 GENG Yan ̄fei et al.: Research Development of Food Plant Ethnobotany: —Bibliometric and Mapping
Fig 5 Hot words in cited references
the therapeutic potential of foods had been scarcely
investigated to date (Etkinꎬ 1996). Howeverꎬ some
researchers found that bitter and pungent food plants
were often used as chemicalsꎬ and aromatic plants
were added to dishes to achieve antisepticꎬ digestive
and antifermentative properties ( Etkin and Rossꎬ
1982ꎻ Guarreraꎬ 2003).
According to Bonet and Vallis (2002)ꎬ the eth ̄
nobotanical research had a two ̄fold objective: a con ̄
tribution to the inventory and diffusion of part of a
national cultureꎬ a basis for phytochemical and other
studies which may lead to the use of new plant drug
or food sources. The latter lacked of knowledge until
recently. Furthermoreꎬ due to the varying socio ̄eco ̄
nomical contextsꎬ the survival of the rich popular
wisdom of traditional knowledge was challenged. The
traditional society and its construction was changing
rapidlyꎬ and many more woman worked outside the
homeꎬ to support the whole family or supplement
family expensesꎬ but the food traditionsꎬ which were
inherited normally by womenꎬ preserved yet were
threatened (Pieroniꎬ 1999). The use of traditional
edible plants was descendingꎬ and the new dimen ̄
sion of human ̄plant should develop (Leonti et al.ꎬ
2006). The collections of records of food uses and
dissemination of traditional knowledge were needed.
If nothing doneꎬ most of this traditional knowledge
may only survive in the memory of the elderly and
was threatened to vanish in a few next generations
(Tardío et al.ꎬ 2006ꎻ Tardío et al.ꎬ 2005). The
transmission seriously should be put emphasis onꎬ
not only to help traditional knowledge out of dangerꎬ
but also to maintain the local tradition and to facili ̄
tate the new food sources research elsewhere (Bonet
and Vallessꎬ 2002). For exampleꎬ the indigenous
groups in rainforests of Amazonia who had suites of
outstanding useful speciesꎬ deserved special consider ̄
ation and should be carefully studiedꎬ with the aim of
managing and conserving the species (Prance et al.ꎬ
1987). These clusters also threw lights on rural sus ̄
tainable development. In some placesꎬ like eastern
Tanzaniaꎬ the utilization levels of indigenous people
on local vegetation far exceeded their production and
regeneration (Luoga et al.ꎬ 2000). So documenta ̄
tion of traditional knowledge and proper management
of local plants resources were both urgent to achieve
884 植 物 分 类 与 资 源 学 报 第 37卷
the sustainable existence of tribes and its knowledge
systems (Mairh et al.ꎬ 2010). Most importantlyꎬ the
sound traditional knowledge system would improve
the biodiversity of local areas.
3 Conclusions
Documentation of traditional food plants uses is
what we have been studied in past and we are stud ̄
ying at present. Quantitative methods are very useful
in our studies. The innovation on study methods of
food plants knowledgeꎬ such as CI and CFSIꎬ is in
under ̄utilizationꎬ but it will draw attention in more
and more studies soon. The management about edi ̄
ble plants are being studied but not on the leading
role. In the futureꎬ dissemination of traditional know ̄
ledge and proper management of local plants re ̄
sources are neededꎬ and we also need to establish
strong links with chemistry to lay foundations for new
function foods or plant drugs or food sources. It is
noteworthy that the multidimensional utilization of
plant materials suggests a broader base from which to
discuss the potential impact of botanicals. Overallꎬ
future studies involving comprehensive analysis of
multidiscipline are required to fulfill the two ̄fold ob ̄
jective of Ethnoboany.
Acknowledgements: We thank anonymous reviewers for their
critical comments and constructive suggestions on earlier ver ̄
sions of this paper.
References:
Abt HAꎬ 1998. Why some papers have long citation lifetimes [ J] .
Natureꎬ 395: 756—757
Albuquerque UPꎬ Silva JSꎬ Campos JLA et al.ꎬ 2013. The current
status of ethnobiological research in Latin America: gaps and per ̄
spectives [ J] . Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicineꎬ 9
(1): 72
Beltran Lꎬ Ortiz Aꎬ Mariano N et al.ꎬ 2014. Factors affecting ethnob ̄
otanical knowledge in a mestizo community of the Sierra de Huaut ̄
la Biosphere Reserveꎬ Mexico [ J] . Journal of Ethnobiology and
Ethnomedicineꎬ 10 (1): 14
Bonet MÀꎬ Vallès Jꎬ 2002. Use of non ̄crop food vascular plants in
Montseny biosphere reserve (Cataloniaꎬ Iberian Peninsula) [J] .
International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutritionꎬ 53 ( 3):
225—248
Chen Cꎬ 2004. Searching for intellectual turning points: progressive
knowledge domain visualization [J] . Proceedings of the Nation ̄
al Academy of Sciencesꎬ 101 (suppl 1): 5303—5310
Chen Cꎬ 2005. The centrality of pivotal points in the evolution of sci ̄
entific networks [ A] / / Proceedings of the 10th International
Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces [ C]. ACM Pressꎬ
98—105
Chen Cꎬ 2006. CiteSpace II: detecting and visualizing emerging
trends and transient patterns in scientific literature [J] . Journal
of the American Society for Information Science and Technologyꎬ
57 (3): 359—377
Chen Cꎬ Ibekwe ̄SanJuan Fꎬ Hou JHꎬ 2010. The structure and dy ̄
namics of cocitation clusters: a multiple ̄perspective co ̄citation
analysis [J] . Journal of the American Society for Information
Science and Technologyꎬ 61 (7): 1386—1409
de Solla Price DJꎬ 1965. Networks of scientific papers [J] . Scienceꎬ
149: 510—515
Dunning Tꎬ 1993. Accurate methods for the statistics of surprise and
coincidence [J] . Computational Linguisticsꎬ 19 (1): 61—74
Ernst MDꎬ 1998. Harmless herbs? A review of the recent literature
[J] . American Journal of Medicineꎬ 104 (2): 170—178
Ertugˇ Fꎬ 2000. An ethnobotanical study in central Anatolia (Turkey)
[J] . Economic Botanyꎬ 54 (2): 155—182
Etkin NLꎬ 1996. Medicinal cuisines: diet and ethopharmacology [J] .
Pharmaceutical Biologyꎬ 34 (5): 313—326
Etkin NLꎬ Ross PJꎬ 1982. Food as medicine and medicine as food:
an adaptive framework for the interpretation of plant utilization a ̄
mong the Hausa of northern Nigeria [ J] . Social Science & Medi ̄
cineꎬ 16 (17): 1559—1573
Freeman LCꎬ 1977. A set of measures of centrality based on between ̄
ness [J] . Sociometryꎬ 40 (1): 35—41
Freeman LCꎬ 1979. Centrality in social networks conceptual clarifica ̄
tion [J] . Social Networksꎬ 1 (3): 215—239
Garibay ̄Orijel Rꎬ Caballero Jꎬ Estrada ̄Torres A et al.ꎬ 2007. Under ̄
standing cultural significanceꎬ the edible mushrooms case [ J] .
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicineꎬ 3: 4
Gottlieb ORꎬ Borin MRꎬ de Brito NRꎬ 2002. Integration of ethnobota ̄
ny and phytochemistry: dream or reality? [ J] . Phytochemistryꎬ
60 (2): 145—152
Grivetti LEꎬ Ogles BMꎬ 2000. Value of traditional foods in meeting
macro ̄ and micronutrient needs: the wild plant connection [ J] .
Nutrition Research Reviewsꎬ 13 (1): 31—46
Guarrera PMꎬ 2003. Food medicine and minor nourishment in the folk
traditions of Central Italy (Marcheꎬ Abruzzo and Latium) [ J] .
Fitoterapiaꎬ 74 (6): 515—544
Hooper DUꎬ Chapin FSꎬ Ewel JJ et al.ꎬ 2005. Effects of biodiversity
on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge
[J] . Ecological Monographsꎬ 75 (1): 3—35
Junsongduang Aꎬ Balslev Hꎬ Inta A et al.ꎬ 2014. Karen and Lawa
9844期 GENG Yan ̄fei et al.: Research Development of Food Plant Ethnobotany: —Bibliometric and Mapping
medicinal plant use: uniformity or ethnic divergence? [J] . Jour ̄
nal of Ethnopharmacologyꎬ 151 (1): 517—527
Kalle Rꎬ Sõukand Rꎬ 2012. Historical ethnobotanical review of wild
edible plants of Estonia (1770s-1960s) [J] . Acta Societatis Bo ̄
tanicorum Poloniaeꎬ 81 (4): 271—281
Leonti Mꎬ Nebel Sꎬ Rivera D et al.ꎬ 2006. Wild gathered food plants
in the European Mediterranean: a comparative analysis [ J] . E ̄
conomic Botanyꎬ 60 (2): 130—142
Luoga EJꎬ Witkowski ETFꎬ Balkwills Kꎬ 2000. Differential utilization
and ethnobotany of trees in Kitulanghalo Forest Reserve and sur ̄
rounding communal landsꎬ Eastern Tanzania [J] . Economic Bot ̄
anyꎬ 54 (3): 328—343
Mairh AKꎬ Mishra PKꎬ Kumar J et al.ꎬ 2010. Traditional botanical
wisdom of Birhore tribes of Jharkhand [ J] . Indian Journal of
Traditional Knowledgeꎬ 9 (3): 467—470
Martin GJꎬ 1995. Ethnobotany ̄A Methods Manual [M]. England:
Parthenon Publishing Group Casterton Hall
Mustafa Bꎬ Hajdari Aꎬ Pajazita Q et al.ꎬ 2012. Ethnobotanical survey
of the Gollak regionꎬ Kosovo [J] . Genetic Resources and Crop E ̄
volutionꎬ 59 (5): 739—754
Nebel Sꎬ Pieroni Aꎬ Heinrichs Mꎬ 2006. Ta chorta: Wild edible
greens used in the Graecanic area in Calabriaꎬ southern Italy
[J] . Appetiteꎬ 47 (3): 333—342
Newman MEꎬ 2006. Modularity and community structure in networks
[C]. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesꎬ 103
(23): 8577—8582
Persson Oꎬ 1994. The intellectual base and research fronts of JASIS
1986-1990 [J] . Journal of the American Society for Information
Scienceꎬ 45 (1): 31—38
Phillips Oꎬ Gentry AHꎬ 1993a. The useful plants of Tambopataꎬ Pe ̄
ru: I. statistical hypotheses tests with a new quantitative tech ̄
nique [J] . Economic Botanyꎬ 47 (1): 15—32
Phillips Oꎬ Gentry AHꎬ 1993b. The useful plants of Tambopataꎬ Pe ̄
ru: II. additional hypothesis ̄testing in quantitative ethnobotany
[J] . Economic Botanyꎬ 47 (1): 33—43
Pieroni Aꎬ 1999. Gathered wild food plants in the upper valley of the
Serchio River (Garfagnana)ꎬ central Italy [ J] . Economic Bota ̄
nyꎬ 53 (3): 327—341
Pieroni Aꎬ 2000. Medicinal plants and food medicines in the folk tra ̄
ditions of the upper Lucca Provinceꎬ Italy [J] . Journal of Ethno ̄
pharmacologyꎬ 70 (3): 235—273
Pieroni Aꎬ 2001. Evaluation of the cultural significance of wild food
botanicals traditionally consumed in Northwestern Tuscanyꎬ Italy
[J] . Journal of Ethnobiologyꎬ 21 (1): 89—104
Pieroni Aꎬ Muenz Hꎬ Akbulut M et al.ꎬ 2005. Traditional phytothera ̄
py and trans ̄cultural pharmacy among Turkish migrants living in
Cologneꎬ Germany [ J ] . Journal of Ethnopharmacologyꎬ 102
(1): 69—88
Pieroni Aꎬ Nebel Sꎬ Quave C et al.ꎬ 2002. Ethnopharmacology of li ̄
akra: traditional weedy vegetables of the Arbereshe of the Vulture
area in southern Italy [ J] . Journal of Ethnopharmacologyꎬ 81
(2): 165—185
Pieroni Aꎬ Nebel Sꎬ Santoro RF et al.ꎬ 2005. Food for two seasons:
culinary uses of non ̄cultivated local vegetables and mushrooms in
a south Italian village [J] . International Journal of Food Sciences
and Nutritionꎬ 56 (4): 245—272
Prance GTꎬ 1991. What is ethnobotany today? [J] . Journal of Ethno ̄
pharmacologyꎬ 32 (1): 209—216
Prance GTꎬ Baleé Wꎬ Boom B et al.ꎬ 1987. Quantitative ethnobotany
and the case for conservation in Ammonia∗[J] . Conservation Bi ̄
ologyꎬ 1 (4): 296—310
Ranfa Aꎬ Maurizi Aꎬ Romano B et al.ꎬ 2014. The importance of tradi ̄
tional uses and nutraceutical aspects of some edible wild plants in
human nutrition: the case of Umbria ( central Italy) [ J] . Plant
Biosystems ̄An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of
Plant Biologyꎬ 148 (2): 297—306
Rousseeuw PJꎬ 1987. Silhouettes: a graphical aid to the interpretation
and validation of cluster analysis [ J] . Journal of Computational
and Applied Mathematicsꎬ 20: 53—65
Salton Gꎬ Wong Aꎬ Yang CSꎬ 1975. A vector space model for auto ̄
matic indexing [ J] . Communications of the ACMꎬ 18 ( 11):
613—620
Shibata Nꎬ Kajikawa Yꎬ Takeda Y et al.ꎬ 2008. Detecting emerging
research fronts based on topological measures in citation networks
of scientific publications [ J] . Technovationꎬ 28 ( 11): 758—
775
Siraisi NGꎬ 2009. Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine: An Intro ̄
duction to Knowledge and Practice [M]. Chicago ̄London: Uni ̄
versity of Chicago Press
Tangjitman Kꎬ Wongsawad Cꎬ Winijchaiyanan P et al.ꎬ 2013. Tradi ̄
tional knowledge on medicinal plant of the Karen in northern
Thailand: a comparative study [J] . Journal of Ethnopharmacolo ̄
gyꎬ 150 (1): 232—243
Tardío Jꎬ Pardo ̄De ̄Santayanas Mꎬ 2008. Cultural importance indi ̄
ces: a comparative analysis based on the useful wild plants of
southern Cantabria (northern Spain) [J] . Economic Botanyꎬ 62
(1): 24—39
Tardío Jꎬ Pardo ̄de ̄santayana Mꎬ Moraless Rꎬ 2006. Ethnobotanical
review of wild edible plants in Spain [ J] . Botanical Journal of
the Linnean Societyꎬ 152 (1): 27—71
Tardío Jꎬ Pascual Hꎬ Moraless Rꎬ 2005. Wild food plants traditionally
used in the province of Madridꎬ Central Spain [ J] . Economic
Botanyꎬ 59 (2): 122—136
Weckerle CSꎬ Cabras Sꎬ Castellanos ME et al.ꎬ 2011. Quantitative
methods in ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology: considering the
overall flora—hypothesis testing for over ̄and underused plant
families with the Bayesian approach [J] . Journal of Ethnophar ̄
macologyꎬ 137 (1): 837—843
094 植 物 分 类 与 资 源 学 报 第 37卷