ETHNOBOTANY STUDY OF SEAWEED DIVERSITY AND ITS UTILIZATION IN WARAMBADI, PANGUHALODO AREAS OF EAST SUMBA DISTRICT

Abstract

This paper reports the ethnobotany study of seaweed diversity in Warambadi –
Panguhalodo areas of East Sumba District, the island of Sumba. The study recorded
19 genera of 54 species of seaweed, which were utilized as food or edible seaweed.
The group consisted of 17 species of green algae, 17 species of red algae, and 20
species of brown algae. The study also reported that 18 genera of 38 species were
traditionally utilized for medicinal purposes as herbal medicine. The herbal species
consisted of 7 species of green algae, 13 species of red algae, and 18 species of
brown algae.
Seaweed is traditionally consumed as food in various forms: raw as salad and vegetable,
as pickle with sauce of allspice or with vinegar, as relish or sweetened jellies and also
cooked for vegetable soup. As herbal medicine seaweed is usually used for traditional
cosmetics, as antipyretic and antiseptic, as vermifuges, and treatments for cough and
asthma, hemorrhoid, nosebleed and boils, goiter and scrofula, stomach ailments and
urinary diseases.
Indigenous knowledge on seaweed still exist and are continually employed by
people living in particular areas such as the Sumba and Sabu ethnic groups. Yet,
the knowledge is gradually decreasing due to localities, socio-economic change and
cultural development.