Vung Ksor, Immigrant Health Access Project (IHAP) Program Coordinator – Refugee Community at the Center for New North Carolinians, UNCG, and Bush traveled to the 2019 North American Refugee Health Conference from June 13-16 in Toronto, Canada. The poster was entitled "An Analysis of the Ethnobotanical Knowledge of Indigenous Tribes of Vietnam (the Montagnards) Now Living in Greensboro, NC, USA".

鈥婽he Montagnards fought with the Americans in the Vietnam War and sought refuge in the United States in the aftermath. Greensboro is home to the largest population of Montagnard community members outside of Southeast Asia.

This conference is intended for health professionals or advocates in North America that work with refugees from all corners of the globe. The presented research included plant information, both vouchered and unvouchered, from 33 participants from four distinct tribes from Vietnam.

Plant knowledge is vast and diverse in the older Montagnard generations with the study showing that the plant information documented included 103 unique species belonging to 50 different plant families, including flowering plants, gymnosperms and even ferns (93 percent of the species are eaten; 43 percent of the species are being used medicinally). At least 44 different conditions are treated by the medicinal plants documented in this study, including malaria/fever, chickenpox, diabetes, hypertension, snake bites, childbirth/postpartum care, urinary tract and ear infections, wounds, digestive issues, burns, rashes, vision impairments, cold/flu symptoms and pain.

Bush is the co-principal investigator for “Medicinal and Food Plant Use of Montagnard Communities in Greensboro, N.C.” along with Betsy Renfrew, adjunct ESL instructor at Guilford Technical Community College. 

Vung Ksor, Immigrant Health Access Project (IHAP) Program Coordinator – Refugee Community at the Center for New North Carolinians, UNCG, and Bush traveled to the 2018 North American Refugee Health Conference from June 7-9 in Portland, Oregon. Vung presented the research entitled “The Medicinal and Food Uses of Local and Exotic Plants by Indigenous Community Members of Vietnam (The Montagnards) Now Living in Greensboro, N.C.”

The Montagnards, a group of tribes that are indigenous to Vietnam, fought with the Americans in the Vietnam War and sought refuge in the United States. Greensboro is home to the largest population of Montagnards outside of Southeast Asia.

This conference is intended for health professionals or advocates in North America that care for or work with refugees from all corners of the globe. The presented research shows that the vast majority of plants that the Montagnards are using in Greensboro are for food consumption (97 percent) and a substantial number are being actively used for medicine (36 percent).

The talk conveyed the message that access to gardens offers food security, nutrition, dietary modifications for hypertension and diabetic patients, positive mental health and a continuation of cultural identity for refugee and immigrant populations. The presentation also informed health professionals and advocates that they should be aware of the possible side effects of medicinal plants their clients may be taking (especially in addition to western medication) and of potentially toxic plants in the area that may be confusing to refugees or immigrants and which may result in accidental poisonings. 

Bush is the co-principal investigator for “Medicinal and Food Plant Use of Montagnard Communities in Greensboro, N.C.” and “Wartime Experiences in Vietnam of Montagnard Immigrants to Greensboro, N.C.”

Betsy Renfrew, adjunct ESL instructor at Guilford Technical Community College and Sharon Morrison, associate professor in the Department of Public Health at UNCG, presented “Sustaining Montagnard Cultural Knowledge through Ethnobotany, Oral History, and Community Health” at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology in Philadelphia, April 3-7, 2018.

Renfrew and Bush have spent two years documenting the medicinal and food plants of the Montagnards, a group of tribes that are indigenous to Vietnam, fought with the Americans in the Vietnam War and sought refuge in the United States. Greensboro is home to the largest population of Montagnards outside of Southeast Asia.

The researchers have also been collaborating on a large oral history project of the community members, chronicling the experiences of both men and women before, during and after the Vietnam War.

The paper, entitled “Diplycosia rigidifolia sp. nov. (Ericaceae) from Borneo, Sabah, Malaysia”, is the result of a 2009 field expedition to Mount Kinabalu in search of Diplycosia and Gaultheria species to include in a large DNA analysis of the evolutionary relationships of the “wintergreen” group of plants (published in 2011; Systematic Botany 36: 1-14).

Diplycosia rigidifolia was initially identified as a more commonly encountered species until further study showed it was morphologically and genetically distinct. The species is endemic to Mount Kinabalu and is only known from a single population, making its conservation status “Critically Endangered”.