Wild edible plants as invaluable ethnomedicine among mountainous people of Bhaderwah, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Abstract

Villagers depend on the forest resources for wood, timber, non-timber forest products, medicines, food, etc. The knowledge on usage of plants has been accumulated from centuries through hit and trial practices. The wild edible plants are collected from forests and consumed in many ways using diverse recipes according to local traditions. These species are the best resources of ethnomedicine among the mountainous people. Current study has been undertaken to assess the extent of Traditional Knowledge (TK) on wild edible plants among villagers in one of the forest sub-divisions i.e. Bhaderwah, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Data on wild edible plants has been collected through direct interview of 49 informants (all women) in Bhaderwah forest subdivision, Jammu and Kashmir, India and analyzed using quantitative parameters like Use Value (UV), Family Use Value (FUV) and Factor Informant Consensus (Fic). Further, about 18 different plant parts of 18 plant species are also reported to be used to generate economy by womenfolk of the region. Among marketed plants, 10 species are of high commercial value. The information gathered during the investigation indicates that traditional knowledge on ethnomedicine under the disguise of wild edible plants can be useful for drug discovery, once divulged.