Ethnobotany and Utilization of the Oleaster, Elaeagnus angustifolia L. (fam. Elaeagnaceae), in Eastern Turkestan

Abstract

Documentation of the utilization of trees among Turkic-speaking communities in Eastern Turkestan is sparse. This article explores the Elaeagnus angustifolia L. which historically had numerous functions and uses among Eastern Turkestani sedentary Muslims and which still plays an important role in the day-to-day life of Uyghurs.

This tree, with the local name jigdä, provides a number of ecosystem services in the region, including provisional (food, energy, raw materials), ornamental (healing), regulating (prevention of soilerosion), and cultural (language expressions, toponyms). Several semi-domesticated or domesticated tree species were cultivated in the locals’ orchards, while others were harvested in the wild.

Its fruits were used as food and for preparing beverages, while some of its other parts were fed to livestock, its timber and branches became materials for charcoal, handicrafts and construction, and it also served a wide range of medicinal and cosmetic purposes. The abundance of proverbs, customs and taboos related to the tree serves as an indication of the important role it played, and continues toplay, in the day-to-day life of the local population. With such a range of properties, the jigdä tree indeed qualified as a keystone species for the population of Eastern Turkistan.