Ashagre Mersha, Asfaw Zemede, Kelbessa Ensermu
Department of Biology, Faculty of Computational and Natural Sciences, Bule Hora University, P.O. Box 144, Bule Hora, Ethiopia.
Department of Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2016 Aug 2;12(1):32. doi: 10.1186/s13002-016-0103-1.
An ethnobotanical study of wild edible plants was conducted in Burji District, Segan Area Zone of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, Ethiopia. The objective of the study was to identify and document wild edible plants and the associated ethnobotanical knowledge of the local people.
Relevant ethnobotanical data focused on wild edible plants were collected using guided field walk, semi-structured interview, and direct field observation. Informant consensus method and group discussion were conducted for crosschecking and verification of the information. Both descriptive statistics and quantitative ethnobotanical methods were used for data analysis.
We documented 46 species distributed in 37 genera and 29 families based on local claims of use as food. Local users collect most of these plants from the wild. The common plant families that encompass more number of wild edible plant species were Anacardiaceae (five species) followed by Boraginaceae, Fabaceae and Solanaceae which contributed three species each.
The study showed the existence of a number of wild edible plants which mitigate food insecurity situations during problematic times that the people of the area face occasionally. Informants stated that wild growing edible plants are under threat due to increased anthropogenic pressure and disturbed climatic conditions. This calls for urgent and collaborative actions to keep the balance between edible plants availability in the wild and their utilization by the community. Furthermore, the study attempted to prioritize very important wild edible plants as perceived by the local people for possible domestication and/or sustainable utilization.
在埃塞俄比亚南方民族、部族和人民区域塞甘地区佐纳的布尔吉区开展了一项野生可食用植物的民族植物学研究。该研究的目的是识别并记录野生可食用植物以及当地居民相关的民族植物学知识。
采用引导式实地考察、半结构化访谈和直接实地观察收集有关野生可食用植物的相关民族植物学数据。采用 informant 共识法和小组讨论对信息进行交叉核对和验证。数据分析同时使用描述性统计和定量民族植物学方法。
根据当地的食用声称，我们记录了分布在 29 个科、37 个属的 46 种植物。当地使用者大多从野外采集这些植物。包含较多野生可食用植物种类的常见植物科是漆树科（5 种），其次是紫草科、豆科和茄科，各有 3 种。
该研究表明存在许多野生可食用植物，在该地区人民偶尔面临的困难时期可缓解粮食不安全状况。 informant 表示，由于人为压力增加和气候条件紊乱，野生可食用植物受到威胁。这就需要采取紧急和协作行动，以保持野外可食用植物的供应与社区对其利用之间的平衡。此外，该研究试图对当地居民认为非常重要的野生可食用植物进行优先排序，以便可能进行驯化和/或可持续利用。
