SBR- Content.pmd - INBO

State of the Basin Report - 2003Water morning glory, water lily and water hyacinth are the most commonly-consumed plants inCambodia. About 400-700 bunches of these vegetables, worth around $35, are collected per familyper year by Boeung Thom lakeside communities. Wild plants comprise about half the total vegetableconsumption in many rural communities in the basin. 155Other commonly consumed wild plants include water cress (Neptunia oleracea), water chestnut(Trapa bicornis), aquatic fern (Ceratoperis thalictroides), pak waen (Marsilliaceae), and bon(Colocasia).4.3 Aquatic plants as animal feedFodder plants for local livestock are also important,in particular in Cambodia and Lao PDR. Assortedplants such as Utricularia, Eichchornia, Lemna,Ludwigia, and Rhynchospora are harvested and fedto ducks, cows and pigs. A water fern, Salviniacucullata and water cabbage (Pista strattiotes) areboiled and fed to pigs and poultry. In the floatingvillages of the Tonle Sap, pigs as well as their ownerseat floating plants most of the year.4.4. Aquatic plants for non-food usesIn addition to their use as food sources for peopleand domesticated animals, plants are harvested for avariety of other essential uses.Along with fisheries, changes in water flowscould also reduce the abundance ofaquatic vegetables4.4.1. Medicinal plantsMcdonald and Veasna 156 recorded the use of 35 species of wetland plants for medicinal purposes inthe community of Prek Sramaoch on Tonle Sap Lake. Medical uses include the elimination ofparasites (Diospryos spp.), the reduction of fevers (Heliotropium indicum, Ludwigia dscendens,and Quisquallia indica) and as an anti-inflammatory (Stenocaulon kleninii). Uses of particularplants seem to be widely known, confirming old traditions of use of medicinal plants.4.4.2 FirewoodMost rural communities in Lao PDR, Cambodia andViet Nam depend solely on charcoal and firewoodfor their heating and cooking needs. Firewood is alsoneeded for processing rice wine, smoking fish,making rice noodles, processing palm sugar andboiling aquatic plants/rice bran for pig and poultryfeed. Lowland communities, such as those inCambodia and in the Viet Nam Delta, cut theirfirewood primarily from wetland shrubs and treesand have done so for many years. Firewood fromthe highlands is of better quality, but is expensivebecause of transportation costs.Most rural people use firewood for cooking130