Qiong Fang

Wageningen University & Research | WUR · Department of Plant Sciences

Edible aroids (plants from the family Araceae) are among the top five most cultivated tuber crops globally, but their consumer acceptance is hindered by acridity. Aroids contain sap that severely irritates the throat and lips if not properly processed. However, no in-depth studies exist on acridity in edible aroids and how to diminish it. We used e...

Background Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and practice associated with wild edible plants (WEPs) is an important part of local culture of the Yao people in Jianghua Yao Autonomous County, which possesses the biggest population of Yao ethnic group in China. Economic development, urbanization, and transition of lifestyle and changing interest...

The Dulong people have accumulated a wealth of traditional botanical knowledge (TBK) over a long period on bamboo use to adapt to their living environment, which impacts many aspects of the life, culture, and creative productivity of the Dulong people. However, research on TBK associated with bamboo in Dulong communities is still lacking. It is urg...

Hypericum species (Hypericaceae) are a group of important plants with medicinal, edible, and ornamental values. A phytochemical study on the whole plants of H. hengshanense W. T. Wang, a species endemic to China, led to the isolation and elucidation of 25 monoterpenoid acylphloroglucinols (MAPs). Among them, 10 are undescribed compounds, namely hyp...

The Dulong, an ethnic group living in the isolated Northwest Yunnan of Southwest China, have directly used a wide of plants to serve their needs and have accumulated rich traditional knowledge about medicinal plants over years. Unfortunately, little has been reported about the medicinal plants used by the Dulong people. Ethnobotanical data were col...

Colocasia spongifolia sp. nov. (Araceae) is a large herb in forest edges on mountain slopes in southern China and central Vietnam. The plant is remarkable for its distinct vegetative morphology, while floral morphology places it as a close wild relative of C. esculenta (taro), among other closely-related species. The name given here reflects a thic...

Background Marketplaces reflect not only the commerce of an area, but also its culture. In Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture with Kaili as its capital, Guizhou Province, China, traditional medicine is thriving in both rural and urban areas. The local people rely extensively on plants for traditional medicines, and these are commonly s...

Utricularia lihengiae, a new species from the Dulongjiang region of northwest Yunnan, China, is here described and illustrated. The new species belongs to the section Oligocista and is similar to U. bifida L. and U. scandens Benj., from which it can be easily distinguished by the dark purple stripe on the corolla. The new species also differs in it...

Background: The Dulong (Drung) people have used plant materials in traditional beekeeping for many decades. However, there are few studies on the plants used in traditional beekeeping. Furthermore, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) associated with beekeeping is still poorly understood. TEK and plants associated with beekeeping play an importan...

There are numerous herbal medicinal markets in China where people trade fresh, dried, or processed herbs. The Chinese government has recognized 17 huge herbal medicinal marketplaces throughout the country. Three markets, Anguo, Kunming, and Yulin, were investigated through ethnobotanical methods. In total, 210 vendors and 135 buyers had been interv...

Alocasia, a new species of Araceae from Jinuo Mountains, Yunnan, China is described and illustrated. The new species is similar to A. odora and A. hypnosa but differs from A. odora by purple-pink spathe and seasonally dormant habit, while differs from A. hypnosa by leaf blade with upwards basal lobes, milky yellow spadix and persistent purple-black...

The Yi ethnic group in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province in Southwest China have cultivated Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) for at least a thousand years. Tartary buckwheat landraces are maintained through their traditional seed system. Field work and social network methodologies were used to analyze the seed sources and their flows, a...