Ethnobotanical appraisal on wild edible plants used by the <i>Monpa</i> community of Arunachal Pradesh

Abstract

The present study based on ethnobotanical exploration deals with such aspects as documentation of traditional uses, diversity, distribution, threat status and marketing potentialities of wild edible plants consumed by the <em>Monpa</em> community of Arunachal Pradesh. A total of 187 wild edible species belonging to 137 genera of 76 families were documented, of which almost 82.88 % were recorded from subtropical to temperate region, 11.23 % from tropical areas and 5.88 % of the alpine meadows. Rosaceae (19 species) was the most dominant family distributed in high Montane slopes and temperate to sub-tropical forests of Tawang and West Kameng districts. Among genera, <em>Berberis</em> and <em>Rubus</em> were the most widely consumed genera with 06 species each. Fruits (77 species) happen to be the most common edible plant organ getting consumed mostly raw (81.81 %) whereas leaves and shoots are mostly cooked. As many as 48 wild edible species were found to be extensively exploited by the local residents from wild habitat for food, medicines, rituals, traditional paper making, firewood and construction work. Thirty-two species were found to have local market value and 08 species were identified to be facing high degree of threat in the study area. Twenty two plants are reporting for the first time as edible and many other plant uses are novel.