A Cross-National Comparison of Medicinal Plants used by the Miao, Yi and Lisu ethnic groups in Yanbian, China

Abstract Background: Its backdrop of multiethnic living makes Yanbian County rich in national culture, and the unique climate and topography make this area rich in medicinal plants. The exchange, collision and integration of the medical cultures of ethnic groups in Yanbian County are of great research significance. The Miao, Yi and Lisu are the most populous ethnic groups in Yanbian. Therefore, in this study, we investigated, sorted and analyzed these three ethnic medical systems with the goal of providing a basis for the study of ethnic medicine in Southwest China.Methods: The medicinal plants of Miao medicine (MM), Yi medicine (YM) and Lisu medicine (LM) in Yanbian County were inventoried by identifying the collected plant specimens and interviewing the local ethnic doctors with a semistructured form. The inventory included scientific names, family names, Latin names, medicinal parts, diseases treated and other information on the medicinal plants. Finally, the Jaccard similarity index (JI), cluster analysis and functional equivalent species mining were used to preliminarily analyze the similarities and differences of the three ethnic medical systems.Results: A total of 345 medicinal plants (from 109 families and 299 genera) and 18 unreported special situations of medicinal plant use were recorded and documented in our ethnobotanical investigation of the three medical systems. There were 102 species of medicinal plants with shared uses in MM, YM and LM, among which the families with the most species were Compositae (14 species, 14%), Labiatae (6 species, 6%), Polygonaceae (4 species, 4%) and Rosaceae (4 species, 4%). In the three medical systems, these medicinal plants are used to treat 12 types of disease, and the most commonly used medicinal parts are whole plants, roots and rhizomes. The statistical data showed that the JI of MM and YM was the highest (47.6%), and the overall similarity of these medical systems was the highest among all comparisons (45.9%). The results showed that in Yanbian, MM and YM were more similar than LM.Conclusions: The Miao, Yi and Lisu groups in the study area have inherited a wealth of ethnic medicine knowledge but are in great danger of losing this knowledge. The results of this study fill the existing knowledge gaps concerning MM, YM and LM in Yanbian, and the almost complete dataset can allow us to preserve ethnic medicine knowledge and carry out a global analysis. The important shared-use medicinal plants in the three medical systems can be used as the basis for future research on new drug resources.