Abstract
BackgroundAn ethnobotanical study of wild edible plants was conducted in Burji District, Segan Area Zone of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, Ethiopia. The objective of the study was to identify and document wild edible plants and the associated ethnobotanical knowledge of the local people.MethodsRelevant ethnobotanical data focused on wild edible plants were collected using guided field walk, semi-structured interview, and direct field observation. Informant consensus method and group discussion were conducted for crosschecking and verification of the information. Both descriptive statistics and quantitative ethnobotanical methods were used for data analysis.ResultsWe documented 46 species distributed in 37 genera and 29 families based on local claims of use as food. Local users collect most of these plants from the wild. The common plant families that encompass more number of wild edible plant species were Anacardiaceae (five species) followed by Boraginaceae, Fabaceae and Solanaceae which contributed three species each.ConclusionThe study showed the existence of a number of wild edible plants which mitigate food insecurity situations during problematic times that the people of the area face occasionally. Informants stated that wild growing edible plants are under threat due to increased anthropogenic pressure and disturbed climatic conditions. This calls for urgent and collaborative actions to keep the balance between edible plants availability in the wild and their utilization by the community. Furthermore, the study attempted to prioritize very important wild edible plants as perceived by the local people for possible domestication and/or sustainable utilization.
Highlights
An ethnobotanical study of wild edible plants was conducted in Burji District, Segan Area Zone of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, Ethiopia
Ten informants ranked seven wild edible plants (Table 4) and the results showed that Physalis peruviana L., Rubus steudneri Schweinf, Opuntia ficus - indica (L.) Miller, Flacourtia indica (Burm.f.) Merr and Lantana viburnoides (Forssk).Vahl. stood 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively
In an ethnobotanical study in some selected districts of Ethiopia such as [2] recorded 20 of the wild edible plant species which were reported in this study, while a study undertaken in three districts of Amhara Region [34], indicated the use of 16 of the wild edible species which were mentioned here
Summary
An ethnobotanical study of wild edible plants was conducted in Burji District, Segan Area Zone of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, Ethiopia. Ashagre et al Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2016) 12:32 bearing species, suffer notable disregard from research and development plans in Ethiopia, in Burji District of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region. They remain inadequately documented in the study area. Cultural domains are the key starting points for studying peoples’ perceptions of the natural world; and are important aspects of local indigenous knowledge by which cultural settings are understood (Puri and Vogl, 2005 (A methods manual for ethnobotanical research and cultural domain analyisis with analysis using ANTHROPC (Unpublished)). Elements of a cultural domain can be understood through free-listing method [33], which has been successfully used by several researchers for eliciting cultural domains or as a precursor for further studies [4, 13, 37, 41]
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