Combining ethnobotany and linguistics: a multimethod ethnobiological survey with the Ende tribe in Western Province, Papua New Guinea

This poster reports on an ethnobotanical survey with the Ende tribe in Western Province, Papua New Guinea, an under-researched hotspot of biocultural diversity. Building on a foundation of collaborative linguistic research, we worked with local Ende people as well as botanists from the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre to collect voucher specimens, match Ende plant names to their Latin species names, document their uses, and video-record the process of making items such as grass skirts, baskets, and animal traps. We identified about seventy plant species with uses including food, medicine, fish poison, snake repellent, and materials for traditional crafts. We corroborate the documented uses of some plant species and also note a few novel uses. Finally, we conducted an inductive thematic analysis of the Ende food system using narratives and conversations originally recorded for linguistic research, situating the ethnobotanical work in a broader cultural context.