The fruit of the pingan tree (left) is different from that of the lumok tree (right), but Western scientists have mistakenly classified the two trees as a single species for nearly two centuries. Credit: Left, Elias Ednie; correct, Elliot Gardner
New species can be hidden from view. A popular Asian fruit tree with a scientific name Artocarpus odoratus it has been considered a single species by Western science for nearly two centuries, although some indigenous peoples in Asia have applied two names to the tree. But a genetic study1 now confirms that evergreen trees that researchers have been grouping A. odoratus they actually belong to two species, as reflected in their indigenous names, each of which refers to a different variety of the tree.
This reclassification exemplifies how indigenous knowledge can change and strengthen our understanding of biodiversity, says co-author Elliot Gardner, a botanist at the International Tropical Botany Center in Miami, Florida.
“The underlying picture is that the knowledge we are now corroborating with molecular markers has always existed,” says Matteo Dell’Acqua, a crop geneticist at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy. in the study. “There is information we can’t access if we don’t talk to traditional cultures.” The research was published on June 6 in Current biology.
A tree of many names
A. odoratus was first incorporated into Western taxonomy in 1837 by Manuel Blanco, a Spanish monk living in the Philippines. Like other members of the genre Artocarpsuch as jackfruit (A. heterophyllus) or fruit of the bread (A. altilis)A. odoratus it is cultivated in Southeast Asia for its large and sweet fruits.
The tree was probably domesticated on the island of Borneo, which is a hot spot Artocarp diversity. Borneo is now divided between the nations of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, and is home to about 50 ethnic groups. Among them are the Iban, the largest ethnic group in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in northern Borneo.
In 2016, Gardner and colleagues in Malaysia were doing fieldwork in Sarawak when they noticed that Iban’s field botanists were using two names to refer to the tree. Iban’s botanists called A. odoratus trees with large fruits and leaves snowbut called trees with smaller and less sweet fruits pingan.
Researchers later realized that people belonging to another ethnic group in North Borneo, the Dusun, also have separate names for the two types of A. odoratus. To see if this difference could be found in the DNA of trees, the researchers conducted a genetic study comparing snow a pingan. The team found that the two types of trees were related, but were genetically different enough to be considered separate species. snow retaining the name A. odoratus i pingan given the scientific name Artocarpus mutabilis.
Gardner says the team thought about investigating whether they were separate species just because local botanists had used different names. He adds that science has a long history of benefits of indigenous knowledge; for example, scientists often rely on local guides to help make sense of the world around them.
“It’s no wonder that people around these plants get to know them more intimately all day than scientists who only come into the field from time to time,” he says.
But the contributions of indigenous peoples are often overlooked or misappropriated, especially when they are opposed to Western priorities, says Victoria Reyes-García, an anthropologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain.
Interacting with indigenous knowledge on an equal footing could help scientists learn more about the natural world and how to protect it, Gardner says. “We can’t keep what has no name,” he says.