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

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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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 trauma of no-choice: Wild food ethnobotany in Yaghnobi and Tajik villages, Varzob Valley, Tajikistan

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution ◽

10.1007/s10722-021-01200-w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Renata Sõukand ◽

Julia Prakofjewa ◽

Andrea Pieroni

Keyword(s):

Global Change ◽

Local Ecological Knowledge ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Ecological Knowledge ◽

Wild Food Plant ◽

Forced Resettlement ◽

Migration Crisis ◽

High Level

AbstractDue to global change and the migration crisis both needing rapid attention, there has been growing debate about the drivers of change in the diet of migrants. Our study aimed to evaluate the consequences of forced resettlement on local ecological knowledge related to wild food plants among forcefully resettled Yaghnobi people in Tajikistan. We conducted 49 semi-structured in-depth interviews and recorded 27 wild food taxa and five unidentified folk taxa used by Yaghnobis and Tajiks in the villages surrounding Yaghnob Valley (including families ressetteled from Yaghnob Valley) in central Tajikitsan. The comparision between the two considered groups showed a high level of Tajikisation among Yaghnobis, both those who live alongside Tajiks as well as those living separately. The few families that still have distinct Yaghnobi plant uses are the ones which were given the opportunity to choose the spot in which to relocate and still visit the Yaghnob Valley regularly. On the basis of our study, we suggest that affording a choice of where to relocate is better than no choice, as the loss of motivation also affects the use of wild food plants. Given the pressure of the possible relocation of many groups of people in the light of global change, we suggest focusing efforts on studying similar cases in order to minimize the damage caused to people by relocation. The trauma of forced relocation, even just a few kilometers away, directly or indirectly affects wild food plant use and with this the food security of the community.

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Medicinal and wild food plants of Marmara Island (Balikesir – Turkey)

Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae ◽

10.5586/asbp.3501 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 85 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Gizem Bulut

Keyword(s):

Rural Areas ◽

Food Plants ◽

Food Sources ◽

Herbal Remedies ◽

Wild Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Ethnobotanical Study ◽

Mentha Spicata ◽

Salvia Fruticosa

Medicinal and wild food plants have always played an important role in people’s lives especially in rural areas. Similar situation can be said for islands due to the reason of them being isolated from mainland. This paper reports an ethnobotanical investigations performed in 2009 and 2014 to determine medicinal and wild food plants of Marmara Island. A total of 30 individuals were interviewed (19 men, 11 women). Totally, 22 plants are recorded as used as traditional folk medicine for the region, and nine of these are also used as a source of wild food. Furthermore, 18 taxa are wild sources of nutrition for the area. The plants most commonly used in the region as medicinal remedies were Salvia fruticosa, Hypericum perforatum, Ficus carica, and Mentha spicata. Plants are mostly used for the treatment of abdominal pain, the common cold, and haemorrhoids. The species most commonly used for food are: Salvia fruticosa, Arbutus unedo, Rhus coriaria, and Rubus sanctus. This ethnobotanical study conducted in this island will enable the traditional use of wild plants both as food sources and herbal remedies to be passed on to future generations.

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Active Wild Food Practices among Culturally Diverse Groups in the 21st Century across Latgale, Latvia

Biology ◽

10.3390/biology10060551 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 551

Author(s):

Baiba Prūse ◽

Andra Simanova ◽

Ieva Mežaka ◽

Raivo Kalle ◽

Julia Prakofjewa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Culturally Diverse ◽

Food Plant ◽

Border Region ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Ethnobotanical Study ◽

Ecological Knowledge ◽

Wild Food Plant

Local ecological knowledge (LEK), including but not limited to the use of wild food plants, plays a large role in sustainable natural resource management schemes, primarily due to the synergy between plants and people. There are calls for the study of LEK in culturally diverse areas due to a loss of knowledge, the active practice of utilizing wild plants in various parts of the world, and a decline in biodiversity. An ethnobotanical study in a border region of Latvia, characterised by diverse natural landscapes and people with deep spiritual attachments to nature, provided an opportunity for such insight, as well as the context to analyse wild food plant usages among different sociocultural groups, allowing us to explore the differences among these groups. Semi-structured interviews were carried out as part of a wider ethnobotanical field study to obtain information about wild food plants and their uses. The list of wild food plant uses, derived from 72 interviews, revealed a high level of homogenisation (in regards to knowledge) among the study groups, and that many local uses of wild food plants are still actively practiced. People did not gather plants as a recreational activity but rather as a source of diet diversification. The results provide evidence of the importance of safeguarding ecological and cultural diversity due to high local community dependency on natural resources.

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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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Dining Tables Divided by a Border: The Effect of Socio-Political Scenarios on Local Ecological Knowledge of Romanians Living in Ukrainian and Romanian Bukovina

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods10010126 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 126

Author(s):

Nataliya Stryamets ◽

Giulia Mattalia ◽

Andrea Pieroni ◽

Ihor Khomyn ◽

Renata Sõukand

Keyword(s):

Local Ecological Knowledge ◽

Ecological Factors ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Ecological Knowledge ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Cultural Economic ◽

Cultivated Plant ◽

Women's Networks

Local cuisine is an important reservoir of local ecological knowledge shaped by a variety of socio-cultural, economic, and ecological factors. The aim was to document and compare the current use of wild and semi-cultivated plant food taxa by Romanians living in Romania and Ukraine. These two groups share similar ecological conditions and historically belonged to the same province, but were divided in the 1940s by the creation of a state border. We conducted 60 semi-structured interviews with rural residents. The contemporary use of 46 taxa (plus 5 cultivated taxa with uncommon uses), belonging to 20 families, for food consumption were recorded. Romanians in Romanian Bukovina used 27 taxa belonging to 15 families, while in Ukraine they used 40 taxa belonging to 18 families. Jams, sarmale, homemade beer, and the homemade alcoholic drink “socată” are used more by Romanians in Southern Bukovina, while tea, soups, and birch sap are used more in Northern Bukovina. We discuss the strong influence of socio-political scenarios on the use of wild food plants. Cross-ethnic marriages, as well as markets and women’s networks, i.e., “neighbors do so”, may have had a great impact on changes in wild food use. In addition, rapid changes in lifestyle (open work market and social migration) are other explanations for the abandonment of wild edible plants.

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Wild food plants and wild edible fungi in two valleys of the Qinling Mountains (Shaanxi, central China)

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine ◽

10.1186/1746-4269-9-26 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 26 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Yongxiang Kang ◽

Łukasz Łuczaj ◽

Jin Kang ◽

Shijiao Zhang

Keyword(s):

Central China ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Qinling Mountains ◽

Edible Fungi ◽

Wild Edible Fungi

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

Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae ◽

10.5586/asbp.2013.036 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 82 (4) ◽

pp. 275-281 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Łukasz Łuczaj ◽

Norma Fressel ◽

Stjepan Perković

Keyword(s):

Silene Latifolia ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Foeniculum Vulgare ◽

Allium Ampeloprasum ◽

Wild Vegetables ◽

Wild Fruits ◽

Nature Park ◽

Local Traditions

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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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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