Indigenous people knew tree was two distinct species hundreds of years before genetic analysis

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Indigenous people knew a tree was two distinct species - hundreds of years before state of the art genetic analysis confirmed they were right.

The Iban people of Borneo understood the tree to have two different varieties, which they call lumok and pingan.

More than 200 years ago, a Spanish botanist described Artocarpus odoratissimus, a species of fruit-bearing tree found in Borneo and the Philippines.

The Iban distinguished the lumok and pingan by their different fruit size and shape.

Despite that knowledge, Western botanists have long considered the tree as a single species.

But a genetic analysis, published in the journal Current Biology, has confirmed that the Iban people were right all along.

To determine the correct taxonomy of the tree, which is in the same genus as the trees that produce the meaty jackfruit, scientists took DNA samples from trees in Malaysian Borneo and from historical herbarium specimens.

They used phylogenetic analyses and DNA micro-satellites to show that while lumok and pingan are closely related, they are genetically distinct species.

The team, which included Malaysian scientists and Iban field botanists, recommend that the trees be renamed to reflect the facts - and suggest that it’s time to consider incorporating indigenous names into taxonomic research.

Study leader Dr. Elliot Gardner said: “While the scientific endeavor has long benefitted from Indigenous knowledge, it has usually not engaged with it on equal footing.

“While Linnaean taxonomy offers a broad framework for global comparisons, it may lack the detailed local insights possessed by indigenous peoples.”

Gardner, a botanist at Florida International University, added: “Time is of the essence, because just as biodiversity is under threat of climate change, indigenous knowledge -itself protected under Article 8(j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity - is threatened by societal change."