Some examples of natural products in the Eastern Arc Mountains

Abstract

There is a high diversity of natural ecosystems in the Eastern Arc Mountains, influenced by a long history of human colonisation. Natural products are an important part of the rural economy and people have a long tradition of utilising them, passed on orally from generation to generation. Urbanisation and migration in modem Tanzania have cut many of the traditional links with nature, and knowledge of nature and natural phenomena is no longer handed down from generation to generation as efficiently as in the past. Collecting the oral tradition in Tanzanian villages and saving it for the future is an urgent task. In this article the use of wild vegetables (Katariina Vainio-Mattila) and edible mushrooms (Marja Härkönen) are presented according to interviews and material collected during several visits to the Pare and the Usambara mountains.

Journal of East African Natural History Vol. 87 (1&2) 1998: pp. 265-278