Table 1.

Use-categories used for categorizing uses of the Chinese useful flora, with definitions of each category, numbers of species and use-citations per species and the percentages of the total Chinese used flora belonging to each category.

Usage	Abbr.	Classification criteria	No. of species or infraspecies	No. of use-citation	% of total Chinese used flora
Medicine	MD	Species reported as medicinal in pharmacopeias, medicine books or through ethnobotanical research, or prescribed for the treatment of certain diseases.	9772	37,523	90.41
Edible	ED	Species reported as used for vegetable, fruit, cereal, or condiment; or used as sources of tea and drinks.	2061	5163	19.07
Ornamental or greening plants	OP	Species reported as used in gardens and parks, used as greenery, used as for soil and water conservation, and sand fixation.	1102	1570	10.20
Industrial raw materials	IN	Species reported as used in industrial materials, such as rubber, resin, tanning material, essential oil, etc.	767	1103	7.10
Timber or construction material	TC	Species reported as sources of timber and building material.	779	1212	7.21
Fiber	FB	Species reported as sources of fiber in ethnobotanical studies or used by people to make textiles, baskets, ropes, or mattress in botanical texts.	692	1089	6.40
Oilseeds	OI	Species reported as sources of oilseed.	547	724	5.06
Fodder	FO	Species reported as used for forage, bee keeping, or used as veterinary medicine.	752	1145	6.96
Pesticide	PE	Species used for pesticide.	183	216	1.69
Religious or cultural uses	RC	Species of religious significance, or reported as used by people in certain ceremonies, rituals.	149	180	1.38
Dyeing or pigment	DP	Species used for Dyeing.	129	206	1.19
Others	OT	Species that could not be classified in the previous categories, such as species used as green manure, hobby, tobacco, toys, etc.	352	390	3.26