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Use of Capsicum frutescens L. by the Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan and the Batanes Islands

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Abstract

Use of Capsicum frutescens L. by the Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan and the Batanes Islands. The local nomenclature, use, and distribution of C. frutescens among indigenous peoples in Taiwan and the Batanes Islands were studied. Among Taiwanese indigenous peoples, the distribution, frequency of use, and importance of C. frutescens were found to increase with decreasing latitude, which appears to have affected the local names of Capsicum and C. frutescens. The local name for Capsicum in the Batanes Islands—“sili”—is used by several indigenous peoples in Taiwan, suggesting that Capsicum was brought from the south to the north. Indigenous peoples in Taiwan and the Batanes Islands used C. frutescens fruits as condiments, medicines, ornaments, or for ritual uses; also, they used its leaves for soup. A complex of both green and yellowish-green types possessing ShDH-B was introduced from Indonesia into the Batanes Islands and Taiwan, and later only the type with yellowish-green immature fruit was introduced to the Ryukyu Islands under the bottleneck effect.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to all of the participants in Taiwan and the Batanes Islands for their great hospitality, kindness, and openness. We are also grateful to the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office in Basco, Batanes, for providing us with opportunities for investigation. We wish to thank Dr. Domingo A. Madulid of the Botany Division, National Museum of the Philippines, who helped and enabled us to conduct research in the Batanes Islands, Dr. Sasala Taiban of Department of Tourism Management, Pingtung, Taiwan, who helped our research in Taiwan, and Dr. Shigeru Tsuchida and Dr. Yukihiro Yamada for advice on the linguistics of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan and the Batanes Islands. In addition, we would like to thank Li-Ying Lin and Mayo Misumi (in Taiwan) and Romeo A. Binalon and Alexander A. Binalon (in the Batanes Islands) for help with our survey. We could not have made efficient surveys without their warmhearted and persevering help. This work was partly supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Project code, DC1 17.2318).

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Correspondence to Sota Yamamoto.

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Yamamoto, S., Nawata, E. Use of Capsicum frutescens L. by the Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan and the Batanes Islands. Econ Bot 63, 43–59 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-008-9052-5

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