Diversity of wild edible yams and its traditional knowledge among Munda tribe of district Khunti, Jharkhand, India.

Author(s): Geetanjali Singh*, Jyoti Kumar

Abstract

Yams are common name for some plant species in the genus Dioscorea (Family-Dioscoreaceae) that forms edible tubers. These are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous vine constituting an important part of the forest flora of district Khunti. The Munda tribe is dominating tribal community of the district. They live in close vicinity of nature. They have indigenous traditional knowledge of identifying and consuming wild edible plants and plant parts as food. This indigenous traditional knowledge is passed on orally from one generation to the other. But due to urbanization, change in the lifestyle, deforestation, unplanned developmental activities etc. the biodiversity and its associated traditional knowledge is declining at a rapid rate. Therefore, it is necessary to document the traditional knowledge of indigenous tribal people before it is been lost. This paper deals with the ethnobotanical study of nine wild edible Dioscorea spp. of the region.

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