Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. However, despite the importance of the Hmong pharmacopeia as a primary health care resource, no study has been undertaken to thoroughly document medicinal plant knowledge and its transmission.
Objectives of this study are i to describe and characterize Hmong pharmacopeia, and ii to understand how medicinal plant knowledge is transmitted and spread among Hmong in Lao PDR, in order to assess whether this knowledge base is under threat. To gain insight about knowledge transmission, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 people. Twenty of them were herbalists. Data analysis was performed using univariate analysis for the description of the pharmacopeia. Medicinal plant knowledge consistency was assessed through use and plant name overlapping.
Answers to the semi-structured interview on knowledge transmission were analyzed qualitatively. Three hundred thirty-three different medicinal species were collected. Use convergences are more marked in the gynecological sphere, but there is a strong heterogeneity in practices and knowledge. Medicinal plant knowledge transmission is oral, gained from direct experience since childhood, matrilineal, and kept strictly within the family lineage. Apparent limited consensus on uses might stem from the method of knowledge transmission and to the economic value given to medicinal plants.
Use pattern of species from the Hmong pharmacopeia does not appear to be strikingly different from the national Lao pharmacopeia. Differences may lie in the methods and reasons for knowledge transmission.
It can be proposed that the economic value given to plants helps in keeping the knowledge alive, and encourages its transmission.
