Plants are particularly widely used, especially on the central islands, where a total of 127 'useful' species were recorded in the survey conducted in 1998 by the Sabah Museum (Guntavid & Galaip, 1998). Their importance is as medicinal, edible, ritual and ceremonial plants, house and boat-building materials, fuel and for making baskets, mats, fish traps and other miscellaneous items.

These plant resources have been used at least since the time that the islands were first settled in the late 1880s. Many of the 'useful' species described by the Sabah Museum are part of the original natural flora of the islands, but others have been introduced from the Philippines or mainland Sabah. They are all included in the lists below, but cultivation is described separately in Section 4.

The ethnobotanical surveys were conducted by the Sabah Museum through a series of participatory interviews with various informants from a number of villages on the islands. All the informants were knowledgeable elders of the communities, including the pandai (village midwife), and mengomboh (renowned traditional healers). For each plant that was known to the informant, information was recorded in the local Samal, Sea Bajau and Tausug languages, including their uses, local knowledge and perceptions of the plants in terms of its habitat, commonness, rarity, folk tales or folklores related to each plant, and other related information.

Most of the ethnobotanical plants, especially the food and edible products, were introduced either from the Philippines or the Semporna mainland. Their existence became the basis of most of the customary rights claims by the communities on the islands.

The following descriptions and lists are taken from Guntavid and Galaip (1998).

3.5.1. Traditional Medicinal Plants
With the active and vigorous introduction of modern western health treatment especially in the surveyed localities, modern medicine is slowly taking the place of traditional herbal medicine known locally as tambal. The Suluk, Bajau and Bajau Laut communities are now more open and willing to accept this new trend. However, across these societies, there are elders who still practise what has been handed down to them for generations. Herbal medicine tends to be used especially by women after childbirth, and to treat the basic ailments of their children.

Traditional herbal medicines are used only in emergency cases while waiting for treatment from the local rural clinics. Where traditional herbal medicine is still personally and actively practised, most of the ingredients and methods of preparation and administration are kept secret for fear of misuse, competition and rivalry. The herbal preparations are usually passed down secretly by word of mouth and compensated with a small payment known as pahookas in the form of traditional paraphernalia consisting of small gifts.

According to the local communities, this traditional indigenous knowledge of herbal medicine was revealed either through physical or metaphysical methods. Initially it was revealed through dreams and it is said to be revealed by the God Almighty and other spirits of the forests. Trial and error is also used to help build up knowledge of useful herbal medicinal practices.

During the harvesting of plant materials for use in traditional medicine, strict rules and regulations need to be observed. God the Almightly, spirits and unseen forces of the jungle are consulted prior to the collections. Taboos and other do's and don't's also need to be fully observed and followed. The timing of collections is also vital. Common ailments treated with traditional herbal medicine include fevers, boils, skin diseases, cuts and wounds, diarrhoea to chronic dysentery and ailing mother after child labour.

Table 17. List of Medicinal Plants Tambal (Samal or Kubang Bajau) from Guntavid and Galaip, 1998.

3.5.2. Food plants
Wild and introduced fruits and vegetables are used by all the local communities. Depending on the season, wild vegetables are often gathered. The most commonly gathered are the leaves and tubers of the panggi kayu (Manihot esculenta). The tubers are grated and made into a powdery, pasta-like putu which is a staple food for many islanders. Other emergency foods include corms of the keladi (Colocasia esculenta), fruit and young pithwood of the saing (Musa acuminatum), corms of the deput-deput (Tacca leontopetaloides) and the fruits and young shoots of the labuh merah (Cucurbita pepo).

There are a few trail plots of kangkong (Ipomoea aquatica) a popular leaf vegetable, sai (Cymbopogon citratus), which produces edible stems and labu kundur (Benincasa hispida) which has edible fruits. These grow mainly on the bare infertile sandy coastlines, especially on Pulau Maiga.

Some species with edible fruits such as mengkuru (Morinda citrifolia) and a few mangoes (Mangifera odorata and M. indica) have managed to naturalise and survive. During the fruiting season, desserts and traditional cocktails are easily prepared from the atis (Annona squamosa), nanas (Ananas comosus), biavas (Pisidium guajava), belimbing (Averrhoea carambola) or the saing (Musa acuminatum). These fruit plants are readily available as they are domesticated in home gardens and also grow well along the coastlines adjacent to the stilt houses. These products are shared and consumed among all the houses. However, excess production may sometimes be sold or bartered for during weekend excursions to Semporna town. Here, three wani and five epal mango fruits would cost RM10.00. So basically, a well harvested apple mango tree could bring in an estimated RM 300, while a wani mango tree harvest could be worth RM 3000.

Food plants include all edible flora which are consumed as actual staple food (ASF), vegetables (V), food flavours (FF), natural food preservatives (NFP), beverages (B), garnishes & sweetener (GS) and seasonings (S).

Table 18. Food plants from Selakan, Maiga, Tetagan, Bodgaya, Boheydulang and Mantabuan (Guntavid & Galaip, 1998)

3.5.3. Ritual, ceremonial and taboo plants
These plants are believed to posses special spirits of their own that were given by God that could bring good or bad cause to the users. Taboo plants normally comprise prohibited plant materials which are either poisonous, or cause disease or other physiological and psychological effects that finally bring negative impacts on every house dweller. Some examples under this category includes the langas (Melanorrhoea wallichi), pelir kambing (Sarcolobus globosus), buto-buto (Exoecaria agallocho) and the tua (Derris elliptica).

A pregnant mother is prohibited from consuming the nanas (Ananas comosus) for fear of aborting the foetus she bores. The sireh (Piper betle), pola (Areca catechu), gambir (Uncaria gambier), sigup (Tobaccum herbaceum) and the dulau (Curcuma domesticum) are the common ritual paraphernalias served to grace and venerate traditional ceremony receptions and ritual functions. During this ceremony, the gabbang, a traditional xylophone, made from the gelam-gelam is also played to accompany traditional dances and songs. A beautiful tepoh or plaited pandan mat made of pandan duri (Pandanus odoratissimus) or buai saga (Calamus caesius) is served to visitors as an act of respect and acceptance. During ritualistic healings, the salimbangun (Gendarussa vulgaris) is employed to call and expiate the healer spirit and at the same time to cool off a patient's spirit.

Campaka (Plumeira obtusata) is planted on graveyards to symbolise the same effects. The valuable bulian (Photoxylon melangangai) is used to make the well-sculptured sunduk or grave marker.

Table 19. List of plants: C = Ceremonial Plant; R = Ritual Plant; T = Taboo Plant (from Guntavid and Galaip, 1998)

3.5.4. Building materials
Under this category, the majority of plants utilised include a wide range of light hardwood to heavy hardwood trees. These commonly grow on the fringes of villages and coastline habitats in the proposed Park.

The hardwood timbers used in house building cover a wide range of primary and old secondary forest species. Traditionally, timbers were obtained from Tetagan, Bodgaya and Boheydulang. However, nowadays, timbers are rare and therefore acquired from sawmills or timber shops on the Semporna mainland. Sometimes drift logs are collected for this purpose. The popular timbers are serayas and mangroves. Traditional houses, roofs and thatching are made from coconut leaves. The joists and posts for traditional houses, huts and shacks are made from the bangkau (Rhizophora mucronata) and the tangol tree (Ceriops tagal). Temporary moorage settlements use the coconut fibrous stem for their posts and roof thatching.

Sugau et al (1998) also mention the ranggu tree, Koodersiodendron pinnatum, which, although perhaps not advisably harvested here because of the steep slopes and overall low volumes, is of value to forestry as a seed source of special provenance. The Mimusops elengi (Sapotaceae) trees on the island have unusually good form, with straight, tall trunks and could have some forestry potential (Sugau et al.1998).

Table 20. Trees used for wood by people of Selakan, Maiga, Bodgaya, Tetagan, Boheydulang, Sibuan and Mantabuan - these may now be sourced from outside the proposed Park. From Guntavid and Galaip, 1998.

3.5.5. Materials for boat building
Average small-size canoes known as bogoh-bogoh made locally are sold for about RM 200. A large lepa-lepa could sell from RM 2,000 - 4,000 depending on the materials used and the types and size of designs incorporated. Traditionally, timbers were obtained either through drift-logs or extracted from the forests on the Tetagan, Bodgaya or Boheydulang. However, most materials are now obtained from the Semporna mainland.

For boat building the gagil (Hopea sangal) and the obah Suluk (Shorea pauciflora) are preferred. A simple bogoh-bogoh needs only a single log, but a large lepa-lepa requires a considerable amount of plankwood. To strengthen the joints of the boat, rattan and belian wood pivots and nails are used. Natural caulking materials from the golom (Osbornia octodonta) in the form of a resinous substance are used along joints and cracks to erase leaks.

3.5.6. Miscellaneous uses

Fuelwood plants
Since time immemorial, wood has been the main source of fuel for local people, with wood fires used daily in preparation of food. However, not all species are suitable for fuelwood. Although certain plants may be readily flammable, there are others that are taboo. For example, the langas (Melanhorrea wallichii) is totally prohibited within the houses because it produces acrid and poisonous fumes.

The wood debris and drift logs that are washed ashore are preferred for fuelwood. It is believed that these burn more readily and efficiently than collected firewood. Cutting down trees is the last resort to get fuel wood. Fallen fronds of the soka (Cocos nucifera) are commonly used and also said to be an excellent fuel wood, Other commonly collected fuel wood comes from the tangol (Ceriops tagal), geriting (lLumnitzera littorea), the pahapat laut (Sonneratia caseolaris), gapas-gapas (Colona serratifolia), the bintangor (Callophyllum inophyllum) and the ketapang (Terminalia catappa.

Canes, rattans and fibres
Traditionally, fish were caught by means of bamboo spears (serampang), and the hook line (rawai) made from natural fibres. Nets were also plaited and shaped into trammel nets and cast nets by using a net plaiting apparatus made from the bulian wood (Photooxylon melangangai) Traditionally, fish caught were then tied together on strings or placed in a basket (ambusa) made from the rattans buai vatu (Calamus iners).

Although rattans and bamboos are the principal materials for making baskets they are seldom cultivated in the gardens, but are obtained from the wild. During the fruit harvesting seasons, various agricultural implements are prepared from a number of species of rattan (Calamus spp). Sugau et al. (1998) mention the presence of the large-cane rattan Calamus subinermis, and the importance of conserving wild seed stands. This is because progress is being made in forestry to use this species as a plantation subject, possibly yielding cane of quality comparable to the commercially valuable C. manan (the manau cane of the furniture industry, which is a dwindling resource).

Among the common agricultural and houshold implements are the ambusa, balatak, lego, bakul and ambong for threshing and winnowing rice and the takung - a coconut plate used by the Tausug. Household implements are coloured with natural red and yellow dyes obtained from leaves of the mengkuru (Morinda citrifolia) and rhizomes of the dulau (Curcuma domestica) respectively. The tepoh, a finely plaited mat, is made from leaf fibres of the pandan duri (Pandanus odoratissimus) or the rattan buai saga (Calamus caesius).

Ornamental value
A number of plants are of ornamental value, and the list from Guntavid and Galaip (1998) is in Table 21. Several are also mentioned by Sugau et al. (1998). These include Thespesia populnea (Malvaceae), Pongamia pinnata, Mimusops elengi, Pisonia grandis, Cycas rumphii, Dracaena multiflora, the climbers Rhyssopteris timoriensis and Hoya sp. indet. and the palm Arenga undulatifolia (Palmae).

Dracaena multiflora, as yet unused in ornamental horticulture, has a great potential. Cycas rumphii is already a well known ornamental plant but wild sources are increasingly scarce because of indiscriminate collection and destruction by ornamental-plant collectors. Thus, any protected wild source will always have value as a genetic bank for supporting the species in cultivation (Sugau et al. 1998).

Table 21. Plants with various miscellaneous uses. From Guntavid and Galaip, 1998.