UTILIZATION OF MARANTACEAE PLANTS BY THE BAKA HUNTER-GATHERERS IN SOUTHEASTERN CAMEROON

Abstract

The Baka hunter-gatherers of the Cameroonian rainforest use plants of the family Marantaceae for a variety of purposes, as food, in material culture, as "medicine" and as trading item. They account for as much as 40% of the total number of uses of plants in Baka material culture. The ecological background of such intensive uses in material culture reflects the abundance of Marantaceae plants in the African rainforest. This article describes the frequent and diversified uses of Marantaceae plants, which comprise a unique characteristic in the ethnobotany of the Baka hunter-gatherers and other forest dwellers in central Africa.