Wild food plants used in the villages of the Lake Vrana Nature Park (northern Dalmatia, Croatia)

Croatia is a country of diverse plant use traditions, which are still insufficiently documented. The aim of this study was to document local traditions of using wild food plants around Lake Vrana (northern Dalmatia, Zadar region). We interviewed 43 inhabitants of six traditional villages north of Lake Vrana. On average 12 species were listed, which in total produced an inventory of 55 food plants and 3 fungi taxa. Wild vegetables were most widely collected, particularly by older women who gathered the plants mainly when herding their flocks of sheep. Wild fruits and mushrooms were rarely collected. The former used to be an important supplementary food for children, or for everyone during times of food shortage, and the latter were relatively rare due to the dry climate and shortage of woods.The most commonly collected plants are wild vegetables: Cichorium intybus, Foeniculum vulgare, Sonchus oleraceus, Asparagus acutifolius, Papaver rhoeas, Rumex pulcher, Daucus carota, Allium ampeloprasum and Silene latifolia.

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Wild food plants used on the Dubrovnik coast (south-eastern Croatia)

Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae ◽

10.5586/asbp.2014.029 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 83 (3) ◽

pp. 175-181 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Katija Dolina ◽

Łukasz Łuczaj

Keyword(s):

Food Plant ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Foeniculum Vulgare ◽

Allium Ampeloprasum ◽

Sonchus Oleraceus ◽

Plant Use ◽

Wild Food Plant ◽

Local Traditions

Croatia’s versatile plant use traditions are still not sufficiently documented. The aim of this study was to record local traditions of wild food plant use on the Dubrovnik coast. We interviewed 40 inhabitants of 23 villages, mainly knowledgeable informants. On average 19 species were listed, which in total produced an inventory of 95 food plant species (including species whose leaves or inflorescences are used as recreational teas).The most commonly collected are: Sonchus oleraceus and S. asper, Asparagus acutifolius, Dioscorea communis, Cichorium intybus, Crepis zacintha, Allium ampeloprasum, Picris echioides and Foeniculum vulgare (all of them used as vegetables), the fruits of Rubus ulmifolius (mainly eaten raw), the fruits of roses (Rosa sempervirens and R. canina) and the leaves of Salvia officinalis (both roses and salvia are used for making recreational teas). A particular feature of the local gastronomy is the collection of young Ruscus aculeatus shoots.

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Wild food plants and wild edible fungi of Heihe valley (Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi, central China): herbophilia and indifference to fruits and mushrooms

Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae ◽

10.5586/asbp.2012.044 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 81 (4) ◽

pp. 405-413 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Yongxiang Kang ◽

Łukasz Łuczaj ◽

Sebastian Ye ◽

Shijiao Zhang ◽

Jin Kang

Keyword(s):

Chenopodium Album ◽

Central China ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Edible Fungi ◽

Wild Vegetables ◽

Wild Fruits ◽

Wild Food Plant ◽

Wild Edible Fungi

The aim of the study was to investigate knowledge and use of wild food plants and fungi in Han (i.e. Chinese) nationality villages in central China, including famine plants used in the respondents' childhood. A valley adjacent to the extremely species-rich temperate forest vegetation of the Taibai Nature Reserve was chosen. Eighty-two people from 5 villages took part in the study. Altogether, 159 wild food plant species and 13 fungi folk taxa were mentioned by informants. The mean number of freelisted wild foods was very high (24.8; median – 21.5). An average respondent listed many species of wild vegetables (mean – 17, me- dian – 14.5), a few wild fruits (mean – 5.9 and median – 6) and very few fungi (mean – 1.9, median – 1), which they had eaten. Over 50% of respondents mentioned gathering the young shoots or leaves of Celastrus orbiculatus, Staphylea bumalda and S. holocapra, Caryopteris divaricata, Helwingia japonica, Pteridium aquilinum, Pimpinella sp., Amaranthus spp., Matteucia struthiopteris, Allium spp., Cardamine macrophylla and Chenopodium album. Only one species of fruits (Schisandra sphenanthera) and none of the mushrooms were mentioned by over half of the respondents. Although very diverse, it can be noted that the use of wild vegetables has decreased compared to the second half of the 20th century, as informants listed several plants which they had stopped using (e.g. Abelia engleriana) due to the availability of cultivated vegetables and other foodstuffs. On the other hand, the collection of the most well-known wild vegetables is maintained by selling them to tourists visiting agritourist farms, and restaurants.

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The hidden Mediterranean diet: wild vegetables traditionally gathered and consumed in the Gargano area, Apulia, SE Italy

Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae ◽

10.5586/asbp.2015.031 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 84 (3) ◽

pp. 327-338 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Nello Biscotti ◽

Andrea Pieroni

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Diet ◽

Food System ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Economic Changes ◽

Traditional Environmental Knowledge ◽

Wild Vegetables ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Culinary Uses

Despite the extensive bio-scientific literature concerning the Mediterranean diet, which emerged in the last three decades, systematic ethnography-centered investigations on a crucial portion of this food system, linked to the traditional consumption of non-cultivated vegetables, are still largely lacking in many areas of the Mediterranean Basin.In this research, an ethnobotanical field study focusing on wild vegetables traditionally gathered and consumed locally, was conducted in a few centers and villages located in the Gargano area, northern Apulia, SE Italy, by interviewing twenty-five elderly informants. The folk culinary uses of seventy-nine botanical taxa of wild vascular plants, belonging to nineteen families, were recorded, thus showing a remarkable resilience of traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) related to wild food plants. In particular, approximately one-fourth of the recorded wild vegetables are still very commonly gathered and consumed nowadays, while ten taxa have never been reported in previous ethnobotanical studies conducted in Southern Italy. These findings demonstrate the crucial cultural role played by folk cuisines in preserving TEK, despite significant socio-economic changes that have affected the study area during the past four decades.

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The Power of Wild Plants in Feeding Humanity: A Meta-Analytic Ethnobotanical Approach in the Catalan Linguistic Area

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods10010061 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 61

Author(s):

Airy Gras ◽

Teresa Garnatje ◽

Jon Marín ◽

Montse Parada ◽

Ester Sala ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spanish Civil War ◽

Local Level ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Thymus Vulgaris ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Foeniculum Vulgare ◽

Generic Level ◽

Mentha Spicata

Wild food plants (WFP) have always been present in our kitchen, although they have not always been given the same importance as crops. In the Catalan linguistic area (CLA), covered in this paper, WFP were of great importance as a subsistence food not only during the years of the Spanish civil war (1936–1939) and World War II (1939–1945), but also long before these periods and in the years thereafter. The CLA has been well studied at the level of traditional knowledge on plant biodiversity, and much of this information is collected in a database by the EtnoBioFiC research group. The aim of this work is to carry out a meta-analysis of the WFP dataset of the CLA (only regarding edible uses, drinks excluded) and to identify the most quoted plants, and the information associated with them. With data from 1659 informants, we recorded 10,078 use reports of 291 taxa (278 of which at specific or subspecific levels and 13 only determined at generic level) belonging to 67 families. The most reported taxa, also with highest cultural importance indexes, are Thymus vulgaris, Foeniculum vulgare subsp. piperitum, Laurus nobilis, Rubus ulmifolius and Mentha spicata. The ethnobotanicity index for food plants is 6.62% and the informant consensus factor, also for food uses, is a very high 0.97, supporting the robustness of the information. The results provided and discussed in this work concern a significant part of the edible resources in the territory considered, which is, often and mainly, underestimated and underutilised. Its consideration could be an opportunity to promote closer and more sustainable agriculture. From the state-of-the-art of this question, it is possible to propose old, in some cases forgotten foods that could be newly introduced onto the market, first, but not only, at a local level, which could be interesting for new crop development in the frame of a valorisation of territorial identity.

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Diversity of Some Important Wild Edible Plants of Kumaun Uttarakhand: A Review

Agricultural Reviews ◽

10.18805/ag.r-2075 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nisha . ◽

P.B. Rao

Keyword(s):

Potential Role ◽

Geographical Area ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Wild Fruits ◽

Cultivated Species ◽

Local Plants ◽

Important Position ◽

Locally Grown

Plants are the invaluable, incredible and traditional sources for the curability of various diseases in the form of medicines. Wild food plants, particularly wild fruits, have been an important element in the dietary traditions since the beginning of human civilization. The consumption of locally grown species is gaining an increasing interest, which also gives an important contribution to local communities’ health and welfare. In addition, wild fruits contain higher amounts of nutrients and bioactive compounds than many cultivated species. Fruits play at potential role in uplifting the economic condition as well as providing the food security to the local people. The tribal population stores a vast knowledge on utilization of local plants as food and other specific uses. Uttarakhand has very rich biodiversity also its diverse geographical area attract many people towards it in tourism. Wild edible fruit plants have traditionally occupied an important position in the socio-cultural, spiritual and health area of rural and tribal lives. Because in Uttarakhand theses wild fruits helps in health benefits many of them have medicinal importance, also theses fruits are part of source of income.

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Nutrient and Mineral Compositions of Wild Leafy Vegetables of the Karen and Lawa Communities in Thailand

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods9121748 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (12) ◽

pp. 1748

Author(s):

Kittiyut Punchay ◽

Angkhana Inta ◽

Pimonrat Tiansawat ◽

Henrik Balslev ◽

Prasit Wangpakapattanawong

Keyword(s):

Indigenous People ◽

Leafy Vegetables ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Plant ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Potential Contribution ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Wild Vegetables ◽

In The Wild

Wild food plants are commonly used in the traditional diets of indigenous people in many parts of the world, including northern Thailand. The potential contribution of wild food plants to the nutrition of the Karen and Lawa communities remains poorly understood. Wild food plants, with a focus on leafy vegetables, were ranked by the Cultural Food Significance Index (CFSI) based on semi-structured interviews. Twelve wild plant species were highly mentioned and widely consumed. The importance of the wild vegetables was mainly related to taste, availability, and multifunctionality of the species. Their contents of proximate and minerals (P, K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu) were analyzed using standard methods. The proximate contents were comparable to most domesticated vegetables. The contents of Mg (104 mg/100 g FW), Fe (11 mg/100 g FW), and Zn (19 mg/100 g FW) in the wild leafy vegetables were high enough to cover the daily recommended dietary allowances of adults (19–50 years), whereas a few species showed Mn contents higher than the tolerable upper intake level (>11 mg/100 g edible part). The wild leafy vegetables, therefore, are good sources of minerals and we recommend their continued usage by indigenous people. Further research on these wild leafy vegetables’ contents of antioxidants, vitamins, heavy metals, anti-nutrient factors, and food safety is recommended.

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Wild food plants and fungi used by Ukrainians in the western part of the Maramureş region in Romania

Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae ◽

10.5586/asbp.2015.029 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 84 (3) ◽

pp. 339-346 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Łukasz Łuczaj ◽

Kinga Stawarczyk ◽

Tomasz Kosiek ◽

Marcin Pietras ◽

Anna Kujawa

Keyword(s):

Central Europe ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Ecological Knowledge ◽

Social Changes ◽

Edible Fungi ◽

Wild Fruits ◽

Voucher Specimens

Wild food and fungi use in the countryside has always been an important part of human-nature relationships. Due to social changes in most rural areas of Europe this part of traditional ecological knowledge is shrinking. The aim of our study was to record the use of wild foods and plants among the Ukrainian (Carpatho-Rusyns) minority in the western part of Romanian Maramureş. We carried out 64 interviews in two villages. Voucher specimens were collected and DNA barcoding was used to identify most fungi taxa. We recorded the use of 44 taxa of plants altogether (including 8 taxa used only for herbal teas) and 24 taxa of fungi. On average 7.7 species of plants and 9.7 species of fungi were listed per interview. Edible fungi are thus an important part of local cuisine and they are eagerly gathered by everyone. The use of a few woodland bracket fungi is worth pointing out. No signs of degeneration of this knowledge were observed. Wild fruits are less collected now and wild greens are rarely collected nowadays. This pattern is typical of many places in Central Europe.

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The Importance of Keeping Alive Sustainable Foraging Practices: Wild Vegetables and Herbs Gathered by Afghan Refugees Living in Mansehra District, Pakistan

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13031500 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 1500

Author(s):

Ajmal K. Manduzai ◽

Arshad M. Abbasi ◽

Shujaul M. Khan ◽

Abdullah Abdullah ◽

Julia Prakofjewa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Life ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Plant ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Afghan Refugees ◽

Wild Vegetables ◽

Biocultural Heritage ◽

Local Environmental Knowledge ◽

Study Participants

The issue of foraging for wild food plants among migrants and relocated communities is an important one in environmental studies, especially in order to understand how human societies rearrange their practices linked to nature and how they adapt to new socioecological systems. This paper addresses the complexity of Traditional/Local Environmental Knowledge (LEK) changes associated to wild vegetables and herbs across four different groups of Afghan refugees living in Mansehra District, NW Pakistan, since 1985. Via interviews with eighty study participants, forty-eight wild vegetables and herbs were recorded, representing both the past and present wild plant gastronomic heritage. The majority of the quoted wild plant ingredients were only remembered and no longer actively used, thus suggesting an important erosion of LEK. Moreover, the number of wild vegetables and herbs currently used by Afghan Pashtuns engaged in farming activities is much higher than those reported by the other groups. The findings indicate that practiced LEK, i.e., knowledge that is continuously kept alive via constant contact with the natural environment, is essential for the resilience of the biocultural heritage, which is, however, also influenced by the rearrangement of social life adopted by refugees after relocation.

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Local knowledge as a tool for prospecting wild food plants: experiences in northeastern Brazil

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-79835-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Patrícia Muniz de Medeiros ◽

Gabriela Maria Cota dos Santos ◽

Déborah Monteiro Barbosa ◽

Laílson César Andrade Gomes ◽

Élida Monique da Costa Santos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Local Knowledge ◽

Rural Settlement ◽

Ecological System ◽

Northeastern Brazil ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Specific Group ◽

Xanthosoma Sagittifolium

AbstractThis study aims to provide a simple framework to identify wild food plants with potential for popularization based on local knowledge and perception. To this end, we also characterized the distribution of this knowledge in the socio-ecological system. We developed the study in the rural settlement Dom Hélder Câmara in northeastern Brazil. The species with the greatest potential for popularization considering the attributes accessed from local knowledge and perception were Psidium guineense Sw., Genipa americana L., Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott and Dioscorea trifida L.f. However, the high variation in local knowledge on wild food plants suggests that species that are not frequently cited can also be promising. The absence of age or gender-related knowledge patterns indicates that studies for prospecting wild food plants in similar socioecological contexts need to reach the population as a whole, rather than focusing on a specific group.

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Wild food plants and fungi sold in the markets of Luang Prabang, Lao PDR

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine ◽

10.1186/s13002-020-00423-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Łukasz Łuczaj ◽

Vichith Lamxay ◽

Khamphart Tongchan ◽

Kosonh Xayphakatsa ◽

Kongchay Phimmakong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lao Pdr ◽

Woody Species ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Edible Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Conservation Priorities ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Edible Plants ◽

Important Position ◽

Open Air Markets

Abstract Background Open air markets hold an important position for ethnobiologists. In Southeast Asia, they are seriously understudied, in spite of their incredible biocultural diversity. In order to fill this gap we recorded plants and fungi sold in the open air markets of Luang Prabang, Lao PDR. Methods The markets were visited 38 times in four seasons: the dry season, early monsoon, mid-monsoon, and end-of-monsoon, at least 8 times per season. All items were photographed and voucher specimens were collected. Fungi were identified using DNA barcoding techniques. Results We recorded 110 species of wild edible plants and 54 species of fungi, including 49 wild-collected species. The sold plants included 86 species of green vegetables, 18 species of fruits and 3 species of flowers. Products from woody species constitute around half of all taxa sold. These include the young shoots of tree leaves, which are used for salads—an interesting feature of Lao cuisine. A large number of extremely rare Russula, with no reference sequences represented in databases or even species unknown to science is present on sale in the markets. Conclusions Luang Prabang markets are some of the richest in species of wild edible plants and fungi in Asia, and indeed in the whole world. It is worth pointing out the exceptionally long list of wild edible mushrooms which are sold in Luang Prabang (and probably elsewhere in Laos). We view the Morning Market of Luang Prabang as a cultural treasure that unites the traditions of eating a large number of living species with very diverse flora and fauna. Measures should be taken to strike a balance between local foraging traditions and nature conservation priorities.

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