Comparative assessment of floristic diversity, ethnobotanical practices, and local perceptions in urban, semi-urban, and rural homegardens of East Khasi Hills, India
This study conducted in East Khasi Hills, India, reveals that rural homegardens harbor significantly higher floristic diversity and ethnobotanical utility compared to their semi-urban and urban counterparts, while highlighting the pivotal role of women in preserving traditional knowledge within the region's matrilineal society.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Imagine your backyard as a tiny, living library. Instead of books on shelves, the shelves are layers of plants: tall trees reaching for the sky, bushes in the middle, and herbs hugging the ground. This is what scientists call a "homegarden." It's not just a pretty place to sit; it's a complex ecosystem where families grow food, medicine, and flowers all in one spot. Think of it as a personal pharmacy and grocery store rolled into one, managed by the people who live there.
Now, imagine that library changing as the world outside gets busier. In the countryside, the library might be huge, filled with rare, old books and useful tools. But as you move closer to the noisy city, the library might shrink, and the books might change from "how to cure a fever" to "how to make the garden look nice." This is the story of ethnobotany—the study of how people and plants are best friends. Scientists care about this because these tiny gardens hold secrets to food security, traditional medicine, and keeping nature diverse. If we lose these gardens, we might lose the "books" (plants) and the "stories" (knowledge) about how to use them forever.
The Great Garden Heist: A Tale of Three Neighborhoods
In the East Khasi Hills of India, a team of curious researchers decided to investigate these living libraries. They wanted to see how the "garden library" changes as you move from the quiet countryside to the bustling city. They didn't just guess; they went out with clipboards and cameras, visiting 90 different homegardens between August 2022 and July 2024. They split these gardens into three groups: Rural (the countryside), Semi-urban (the suburbs), and Urban (the city).
The Cast of Characters: Who's Running the Garden?
First, they met the gardeners. Here's a plot twist: in the Khasi community, women are the bosses of the garden. Because of a traditional system where property and surnames pass down through mothers, 86% to 96% of the gardeners the team talked to were women. Whether in the city or the country, the women were the ones holding the keys, planting the seeds, and knowing exactly which leaf cures a stomach ache.
The Plot Twist: The City Garden is Shrinking
The researchers found that as you get closer to the city, the gardens get smaller and the plant list changes.
- Rural Gardens: These were the giants. They were the biggest, oldest, and most crowded with life. The team counted 106 different plant species here! They were packed with food (like vegetables and fruits) and medicine.
- Semi-urban Gardens: These were the middle children. They had 92 species. They were a mix of the old ways and new city life.
- Urban Gardens: These were the smallest, fitting entirely into tiny plots of 0–0.20 hectares (about the size of a small house lot). They only held 81 species.
The "Why" Behind the Change
Why did the city gardens lose so many plants? The researchers found that city life is busy. In the urban areas, 53.33% of the gardens had actually shrunk in size, mostly because people didn't have enough time or labor to tend them. In the countryside, only 33.33% shrunk, and some even got bigger! The city gardens were also shifting their focus. While rural gardens were full of useful plants like "food" and "medicine," the city gardens were becoming more like flower shops, dominated by ornamental plants just to look pretty.
The Knowledge Gap: Who Knows What?
The team also asked the gardeners what they knew.
- The Rural Experts: The older folks in the countryside knew the most. They could tell you that Zingiber officinale (ginger) is the most famous plant, used by 18 different people for many things. They knew exactly which part of the plant to use (usually the leaves!) and how to prepare it.
- The City Shift: In the city, the knowledge was still there, but it was changing. Interestingly, in the city, men knew slightly more about the plants than women, which is the opposite of the countryside! This suggests that as women move into city jobs, men might be stepping in to manage the small gardens, or perhaps the city lifestyle changes who gets to learn the old ways.
The Big Fear: Losing the Stories
The researchers asked the gardeners a serious question: "Are we losing our traditional knowledge?"
Almost everyone agreed: Yes.
- In the city, 73% of people strongly agreed that this knowledge is disappearing.
- In the countryside, 66.67% agreed.
The team suspects this is because modern life, schools, and city jobs are pulling people away from the old ways. However, there is good news! Despite the fear, everyone said they want to pass this knowledge on to their kids. In the city, 73.33% of people strongly agreed they would teach the next generation.
The Verdict
This study suggests that homegardens are like living museums. The rural museums are full of rare, useful exhibits (food and medicine), while the city museums are getting smaller and focusing more on decoration. The researchers didn't prove that the knowledge is gone yet, but they measured that it is declining and that the gardens are changing fast. They found that women are the main keepers of this knowledge in the countryside, but that role is shifting in the city.
The bottom line? These gardens are vital. They hold 162 different plant species in total across the study area. If we don't pay attention, the "books" in these tiny libraries might get lost, and we might forget how to grow our own food and medicine. The researchers suggest that we need to support these gardens, especially as cities grow, to make sure the stories don't fade away.
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