African elements in Saramaccan Maroon plant names in Suriname

The ancestors of the Saramaccan Maroons, who were brought as enslaved Africans to Suriname, used their ethnobotanical knowledge and native languages name flora in new environment. Little is known about influence African on plant naming. We hypothesized that names more influenced by Central than found so far based research, mainly because data region was scarce. compiled a database compared these with an unpublished from Democratic Republic Congo earlier published NATRAPLAND Afro–Surinamese find comparable for botanically related species Africa. further analyzed form, meaning, function, categories components means dictionaries grammars. In total, 39% had origin, which 44% retentions, 54% innovations, 2% misidentifications botanical links Africa via other species. Most retentions origin (62%). Bantu language contributed most Kikongo, followed West Kwa languages. Plant reveal important information Saramaccans deserve scientific attention.