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Ethnobotanical
Leaflets 13: 1328-36, 2009. Wild Edible Plants
Used By the Tribes of Akole Tahasil of Ahmednagar District (Ms), Khyade M. S.1*, Kolhe S. R.1
and Deshmukh B.S.2 Post Graduate
Department of Botany, 1S. N.Arts,
D.J. M.Commerce and 2Arts,
Comm. and D. R. Science College Akole, Dist. Ahmednagar- 422601 (MS), *Correspondent author, E mail- mskhyade@rediffmail.com Issued: October 01, 2009 Abstract The
present communication deals with the ethnobotanical
exploration,identification,concerns and future potentialities of the wild
edible plant species consumed by the tribal communities inhabiting in the
hilly areas of akole tahasil of Ahmednagar district fall in Maharashtra
state- Introduction Since the time immemorial, useful plants have been
handled by human societies for medicinal and food purposes. While, the
hunter-gatherer societies still continue to profess such lifestyles.
Throughout history, wild edible plants have sustained human populations in
each of the inhabited continents. Human consumption of wild plants has been
documented from antiquity into the Common Era. Dietary use of wild fruits,
nuts, seeds, and leaves appear in numerous records from ancient Egypt [Darby et al. 1977], Greece [Athenaeus,
1927-1942], Rome [Apicius, 1958], India [Caraka, 1981], China [Simoons, 1991]
and the Medieval era [Arano, 1976]. Today, most human plant food is based on
rather limited number of crops, but it is clear that in many parts of the
world the use of wild plants is not negligible [Prescott-Allen and Prescott,
1990; Scherrer et al. 2005;
Bussmann et al. 2006; Bussman and
Sharon, 2006; Kunwar et al. 2006;
Cavender, 2006; Pieroni et al.
2007] Many publications have emphasized on the diversity and value of wild
edible plants [Maikhuri et.al.,
2000; Kala, 2007; Dhyani et al.
2007]. The nutritional value of traditional wild plants is higher than
several known common vegetables and fruits [Nordeide et al. 1996; Sundriyal and Sundriyal, 2001; Orech et al. 2007].� The Western
Ghats of Maharashtra covers an area of 52,000 km2 [Natarajan and Paulsen,
2000]. Ahmednagar district is one of the ten district of Western Ghats
region. This district covers an area of 17,035km2 and lies between 73�9' to
75�5' E and 18�2' to 19�9' N. The area under study, hamlets/villages and the
market places of Akole tahasil that run parallel to the western coast, called
Sahyadris. Materials and Methods Description
of the Study Area and Survey: The study area
concentrates in and around the forest areas, different villages and market
places of Akole tahasil located in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra state,
situated in the Sahydris ranges
of Interviews
with tribal and village people The data were
collected according to the methodology suggested by Jain (1995). The ethnobotanical
data (local name, mode of preparation) were collected through questionnaire,
interviews and discussions among the tribal people in their local language.
The questionnaire, such as part of the plant used and detailed about mode of
preparation and form of usage. Most of the time, the field visits with the
tribals are made to observe and collect the edible plant species.Voucher
specimen of each edible plants species were collected during the field
visits. The collected species were then dried and preserved following the
technique [Jain and Rao, 1967]. The specimens were identified using fresh as
well as herbarium materials with taxonomic keys in the Floras like Flora of
Bombay Presidency [Cook 1901-1908]. Flora of Ahmednagar district [Pradhan and
Singh, 1999], Flora of Maharashtra state vol.I [Singh and Karthikeyan 2000],
vol. II [Singh et al 2000] and vol. III [Sharma et al 2000], were used to
ascertain the nomenclature and deposited at P.G. Department of Botany
Sangamner College Sangamner. Results and Discussion The
present investigation comprises 31 species of plants belonging to 23 families.
Out of 23 families 5 families were belongs to monocotyledon and remaining 18
families were dicotyledons. In dicot, the dominant families were
Amaranthaceae (4 species), Papilionaceae (3 species), Boraginaceae (2
species), Asclepedaceae (2 species), where as in monocots, Araceae (2
species) and remaining taxa belongs to one member of each families. For each
species botanical name, family, local name, parts used and methods of
preparation were discussed in detail (Table 1). ������������������������� Table 1. Wild edible plants used by the tribes of akole tahasil.������
The
plant parts used were leaves, fruits, tuber, flower and sometime whole plants
for food supplements. Herbs make up the highest preparation of the edible
species followed by tree, shrub and climber in descending order. The time and
frequency of harvesting various from plant to plant depending upon the
availability of edible plant or part which in turn vary from place to place. The
edible plant species consumed in many ways, some of them need only washing of
the parts or no washing. The parts used were fruits, leaves, flower, tubers
and sometimes whole plant. Method of preparation and uses falls into categories
like boiled, baking and as raw. During the
survey, it was revealed that the tribals and villagers of Akole� have much faith in using the wild plants as
a food. The indigenous people of study area are dependent on forests food for
their daily live hood. They frequently visit forests to collect their
necessary food supplements and other materials. Thus, those people have
described the wild food plant based on usage into two classes- vegetables and raw food. The vegetable plant materials are used for cocking, and
the raw food is directly eaten after washing. The
leaves of Amaranthus biltum, Amaranthus
spinosus, Argyreia nervosa, Bauhinia racemosa, Celotia argentea, Chlorophytum
tuberosum, Colocasia esculenta, Digera muricata and Launaea procumbens are mostly used as vegetables for cooking.
Moreover species like Arisaema
murrayi, Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, Chlorophytum tuberosum and Dioscorea bulbifera bears
a tuber which provides hefty minerals and also most of them having medicinal
importance. The fruits of Cajanus
lineatus, Casine glauca, Capparies zeylanica, Cordia dichotoma, Cordia
gharaf, Diospyros melanoxylon, Elaeagnus conferata, Grevia villosa,
Flacourtia latitolia,and Uraria
picta are generally eaten as raw
and sometimes salads and prickles are prepared from them. Among
discussions with tribals and villagers, wild food plants are used as common
household food and make a substantial contribution to food security of the
tribals and villagers in the study area. Therefore, steps are needed to undertake
extensive education about their importance as a nutritional balanced food as
a direct and indirect source of income particularly for the resources poor
family. These may bring to light one or other new food plants from wild
resources for increased population of our country. Conclusion In the present
investigation an attempt has been made to catalogue the local knowledge of
wild plants used by tribal and villagers of Akole. Also this study
contributes to the database of traditional indigenous knowledge of plants of
the country, which have been not been documented earlier. The findings
suggest further investigation into nutritional profits, processing methods,
cultivation techniques, conservational studies and pharmacological properties
of the reported plant species. Many of the wild food may not be freely
available in future due to overexploitation, habitat destruction, regular
forests fires and invasion of alien exotic species. So efforts must be taken
to conserve wild food plants and also the traditional knowledge for a
sustainable management of biodiversity. Acknowledgment: The authors
are grateful to Dr. K. K. Deshmukh, Principal Sangamner College, Sangamner.
Thanks are also due to the informants of tribal people of Akole tahasil for their help and co-operation during the entire study
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