Ethnobotany, Traditional Knowledge, and Diversity of Wild Edible Plants and Fungi: A Case Study in the Bandipora District of Kashmir Himalaya, India

This study explored the diversity of traditional knowledge, collected data on utilization, and identified and analyzed the wild edible plants and fungi of Kashmir Himalaya (India). Information was collected by interviews with 113 individuals during 2012-2014 from nine rural and mountainous areas. Da...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of herbs, spices & medicinal plants spices & medicinal plants, 2016-07, Vol.22 (3), p.247-278
Main Authors: Singh, Bikarma, Sultan, Phalisteen, Hassan, Qazi Parvaiz, Gairola, Sumeet, Bedi, Yashbir Singh
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcoholic beverages
Amaranthus caudatus
Angelica archangelica
Angiosperms
Asparagus
Berberis
Botany
Cryptogams
Cultural importance index
Ethnobotany
Ethnology
fidelity level
Fragaria vesca
Fruits
Functional foods & nutraceuticals
Fungi
Genera
Gymnosperms
Herbal tea
Hippophae rhamnoides
informant consensus factor
Information processing
Juglans regia
Lycium
Mountain regions
Oxyria digyna
Vegetables
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Summary:This study explored the diversity of traditional knowledge, collected data on utilization, and identified and analyzed the wild edible plants and fungi of Kashmir Himalaya (India). Information was collected by interviews with 113 individuals during 2012-2014 from nine rural and mountainous areas. Data were classified as cooked vegetables, salads, spices, chutneys, herbal teas, home-made alcoholic drinks, soups, raw fruits, and underground snacks. Information was analyzed using use reports (UR), use values (UV), informant consensus (F ic ), fidelity level (FL), and cultural importance index (CI) metrics. In total, 111 phytotaxa, distributed into 87 genera and 43 families, were identified as local edible resources. Overall, 94.25% of angiosperms, 3.45% gymnosperms, and 2.30% of cryptogams were documented as being used traditionally. Several taxa were highly cited (Amaranthus caudatus, Angelica archangelica, Asparagus racemosus, Berberis lycium, Fragaria vesca, Hippophae rhamnoides, Oxyria digyna, Juglans regia). Frequently used parts were young leaves (19.82%), fruits (15.32%), young twigs (9.01%), roots (8.11%), and tubers (6.31%). The most usage was mentioned for leafy vegetables (27.93%), followed by raw fruits (22.52%), herbal teas (14.41%), salads (9.91%), alcoholic drinks (6.31%), and snacks (4.50%). The high fidelity scores and informant consensus factors suggest that ethnobotanical knowledge could potentially guide the search for developing new nutraceutical products in the future.
ISSN:1049-6475
1540-3580
DOI:10.1080/10496475.2016.1193833