Available online 19 February 2015
A hundred years of change in wild vegetable use in southern Herzegovina
Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
Wild
vegetable mixes used in southern Europe are interesting from the
pharmacological point of view, as they contain many species which have
considerable nutritional and medicinal value, but some are potentially
toxic to humans. Although many ethnobotanical studies document the rich
tradition of using wild vegetables at the turn of the 20th and 21st
century in the Mediterranean region, there is a dearth of older
historical studies which could help us to assess the extent of
Traditional Knowledge loss.
Material and methods
The
aim of this study was to document the use of wild foods in an area of
southern Herzegovina (in Bosnia–Herzegovina) and to compare it with a
list of 27 taxa of wild green vegetables used there, compiled in 1913 by
Vejsil Ćurčić. We carried out 49 interviews in the same area to
estimate the current use and knowledge of wild foods.
Results
Eighty-two
species of wild food and herbal tea plants were recorded in the study.
This includes 44 species whose wild leaves are used as salads or cooked
side dishes, 17 species with edible fruits and 24 species whose leaves,
shoots or flowers are used for everyday herbal teas. On average, 14.2
species (median=16.5) were listed by per interview, including 9.0
species of wild vegetables. Out of 27 plant names mentioned 100 years
ago – five remain unidentified. Out of the 22 species or species groups,
which were identified, 18 are still used as wild vegetables (including
five species used very rarely and known by very few people or only by
one person).
Nowadays, the most commonly used wild vegetables are: Dioscorea communis, Sonchus spp., Allium spp., Papaver rhoeas, Rumex pulcher, Silene latifolia, and Taraxacum spp.
Conclusions
Although
we observed some changes in the names and uses of plants compared to
the list from a hundred years ago, around three quarters of the taxa are
still used to some extent nowadays.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Ethnobotany;
- Wild food plants;
- Wild edible plants;
- Balkans;
- Mediterranean diet;
- Historical ethnobotany
- Corresponding author. Tel.:
+48 602497483.
Copyright © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
