Ethnobryology: traditional uses and folk classification of bryophytes

The term “ethnobryology” was introduced about 50 years ago in a paper about the bryophytes used by the Gosiute people of Utah (Flowers 1957). Although there are fewer literature reports about human uses of bryophytes than those about vascular plants, a number of references about ethnobotanically important bryophytes do exist. These instances of ethnobryological use are all the more interesting both because of their relative rarity, and for the insights they can provide about the relation between people and small plants, like bryophytes, that lie on the cusp of human perception. This paper presents a summary of traditional uses and folk classifications of bryophytes around the world. Comparisons are made about the way that bryophytes are classified in different cultures. A list of about 150 ethnobotanical species of bryophytes is given. Many of these species have reported uses in Traditional Chinese Medicine (∼27%) and by Native North Americans (∼28%). The most common use of bryophytes is for medicinal purposes. Sphagnum, Marchantia and Polytrichum are the most commonly reported genera to have ethnobotanical uses. This paper concludes by discussing how these peculiar instances of the human use of little plants can inform the study of ethnobotany in general.