Ethnobotanical Study of Edible Ferns Used in Bali Indonesia

Abstract

With very few exception ferns have not been widely used as sources of food and medicine. An ethnobotanical study was conducted to investigate Balinese ethnobotanical knowledge of edible ferns. We interviewed fifty informants of different age, sex, and villages to obtain information on traditional knowledge of edible ferns. Investigations were made by interrogating village leaders, religious leaders, farmers, and elderly people. The study has resulted in the documentation of 4 edible fern species. These species were distributed across 3 families and 3 genera. Woodsiaceae was the dominant family (2 species, Diplazium esculentum (Retz.) Swartz and Diplazium repandum Bl.), followed by Blechnaceae ( Blechnum orientale L.) and Thelypteridaceae ( Pneumatopteris callosa (Blume) Nakai.). All species were green vegetables. Pneumatopteris callosa is also used for treatment of various ailments like fever and hypertension. Documentation of these species may provide basic information for conservation, possibly further exploitation, and will preserve local traditional knowledge. Keywords— ethnobotany, traditional knowledge, edible ferns, pteridophytes, Bali