Wild edible plants of Jharkhand and their utilitarian perspectives

Abstract

The wild edible plants (WEPs) form an important constituent of traditional diets of the tribal community of Jharkhand. Most of the rural populations residing in different parts of Jharkhand depend on plants and their parts to fulfil their daily needs and have developed unique knowledge about their utilization. The present study has been conducted to document the indigenous knowledge related to the diversity and uses of wild edible weeds in day to day life of tribal in Jharkhand. A total of 77 different herbs, shrubs, and small trees have been recorded belonging to 38 families of which 73 are edible either as a vegetable or as medicine or in both forms directly or after proper processing. The common wild edible herbs frequently distributed in the study area are Hemidesmus indicus R. Br. (51 quadrats out of 134) and Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. (47 quadrats out of 134). Similarly, the most frequent edible shrubs are Clerodendrum viscosum Vent., nom. superfl. (40), Lantana camara L. (35), Croton oblongifolius Roxb. (34) and Flemingia stobilifera (L.) R.Br. (20). The diversity of WEPs in Jharkhand has found to be depleted due to their over exploitation and unsustainable harvesting for foods, medicines as well as because of various other biotic interferences including grazing, herbivory and anthropogenic fire. Therefore, there is
an urgent need to conserve these valuable Wild edible plants (WEPs) and use it in a sustainable manner to ensure future demand. Besides, further research is also warrant to explore the therapeutic potentials as well the nutritive values of WEPs, so that, it can give a scientific basis for the further development of herbal drugs and traditional foods.