Traditional knowledge and ways of consumption of wild edible plants by rural communities of Shimla District, Himachal Pradesh (India)

Rinku Jhamta,Richa Puri,Sana Khan,Manohar Lal Sharma,Harsimran Kaur

doi:10.14719/pst.2019.6.2.507

Abstract

Wild edible plants are used as a source of food by local people where they still rely on natural resources to meet their daily needs. The study was conducted in the rural communities of the Shimla district to document wild edible plants and their edible uses known to local people. The study documented 103 wild edible plant species belonging to 75 genera and 46 families. Rosaceae is the most dominant family with 18 species occupying 17 % of the total use reports. Of the reported plants 43% were used as fruits, 42% as vegetables and remaining have used as juice, gums, spices and condiments. As many as 74 ways of consumption methods shows a Fidelity level (FL) of more than 80%. The use category of vegetables shows highest degree of consensus factor followed by fruit category. Horticultural land expansion is the major threat to the natural habitat of wild edible plants followed by overgrazing. Field visits to various villages in 16 regions of the study area were carried out in different phases from May 2015- September 2018. A total of 102 informants were involved in field investigation and a semi-structured questionnaires and participatory rural appraisal method were used to analyze and study the traditional wild edible plants.

Highlights

Since time immemorial, people have collected plants from the wild to fulfill their daily food requirements
The current study investigates the plants of Shimla district focusing on edible parts and their role in day to day household food needs and at a time of food shortage
These include edible plants gathered as food by elders and ripened fruits consumed by children

Summary

Introduction

People have collected plants from the wild to fulfill their daily food requirements. In modern agriculture practices nearly 90 % of global food production comes from less than 30 species [1]. This situation may create the risk of over-dependence on a limited number of crops. Large section of the rural people still meets their daily nutritional requirement by consuming various wild plants. In rural villages wild edible plants act as good substitutes at times of food shortage [2]. In developing countries wild edible plants offer an alternative source of income [3,4,5]

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