Ethnobotanical Evaluation Of Wild Plants Used For Food, Medicine, And Cultural Practices

Abstract

Ethnobotanical knowledge is ancient knowledge that is collected through generations about the use of plants to ensure sustenance, healthcare and other cultural aspects. This paper is a systematic review of wild flora used by indigenous people in various Indian states in terms of food, medicine, and culture. The main goals were to record the species diversity, evaluate the patterns of utilization and estimate the ethnobotanical importance with the help of standardized indices. The research hypothesis was that indigenous people have a rich traditional knowledge on the use of wild plants as resources to their food security and primary healthcare. Through the use of semi-structured questionnaires and participatory rural appraisal methods data was gathered among 150 informants in the sampled villages. Findings identified 102 species of wild plants belonging to 58 families which were used in different ways, Fabaceae, Asteraceae, and Rosaceae were the major families. The statistical analysis indicated that there was a high degree of agreement on the use of the plants with the use values of the reported species being 0.48 to 0.89 as highly significant species and use values of the other species being moderate to low. There were high levels of cultural acceptance of certain species represented by quantitative indices. The paper has come up with the conclusion that the wild plants still play a significant role in indigenous livelihood systems and there is a need to protect and preserve the traditional knowledge of the important ethnobotanical heritage so as not to erode it.

DOI: https://doi-ds.org/doilink/12.2025-34916186