Edible Wild Vegetables

Introdution
Any thing which is fit or suitable to be eaten called edible. Wild plants which are self cultivated

and growing in natural habitate without the involvement of man and others. Plant or part of plant

that is eaten as food is called vegetable. People use plant in many ways such as Food, Fodder,

Fuel wood, Timber wood, medicinal purposes(Khan et al, 2013). The research shows that there

is a large contact of plants with human beings and it also influence the human beings. (Khan et

al. (2013).Plants may be wild or cultivated. Wild plants are easily available to people as

compared to cultivated, because of which people mostly depend upon wild plants and use them

as vegetables(food).People depend upon wild vegetables for many reasons such as a cheap

source of food, easily excesable , due to poverty, its medicinal properties, less negative impact

and also for selling purposes. Among alternatives available to meet the food demands cultivable

and wild vegetables are regarded as cheep source of food for the marginal communities (Javid

Hussain et al,(2010).

Maintenance of life necessities in indigenous areas are substantially more complex and

tough because of remoteness, fragility and susceptibility-arising from landscape complexity,

altitudinal incline and poor physical and socioeconomic infrastructure, so they are directly

depending on natural resources for their livelihoods which strongly link them with natural

ecosystems(MuhammadFawad,2015.).

To apprehend the situation, interests have been centralized on the exploitation,

quantification and utilization of food plants, especially the vegetables (Javid Hussain .et

al.,2010) The nourishing role and health benefit of wild food capitals has been reported in many
inspections globally (Muhammad Fawad,2015). However, consumption of wild food is

determined less by calorie idea and more by the preference of collecting wild resources,

recreating traditional practices and loving typical tastes(Muhammad Fawad.,2015).Along with

other food alternatives, vegetables are considered the cheep source of energy. Vegetables are

very rich sources of essential biochemical and nutrients such as carbohydrates, carotene,

protein, vitamins, calcium, iron, ascorbic acid and palpable concentration of trace minerals (Javid

Hussain et al(2009). Wild edible plants have a tremendous influence on human being

even before civilization. These vegetables have high nutraceutical value and are used for wide

range of ailments and have the potential to protect human body from cancer, diabetes,

inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases.It is of outmost importance to obtain data about

popular uses of wild edible traditional vegetables before this knowledge disappears . The wild

vegetables are gathered from uncultivated lands and the knowledge about traditional vegetables

is passed on from generation to generation as part of the indigenous knowledge system of the

community. Traditional vegetables, which are edible plants that are used as vegetables, are part

of traditional production systems and local knowledge. These plants have been used locally over

a number of years, but did not necessarily originate in that particular area.

In many Asian countries

these traditions are at risk of disappearing, and hence the crucial need to study such knowledge

systems and find innovative ways of infusing them to the future generations . Knowledge of such

foods is a part of traditional knowledge which is mainly transmitted through contribution of

individuals of households. The identity, distribution and uses of edible vegetables have not been

documented in the area. This study was therefore undertaken to obtain these important data not

for only the traditional use of wild edible vegetables for food sources but also medicinal uses of
these vegetables and the potential for future use in district karak,kpk,Pakistan (Niaz Mohammad

et al, 2016).

Study Area It is located in the

south of Kohat and on the West Side District Bannu and LakiMarwat. It is about 123 km

awayfrom Peshawar on the main Indus Highway towards Karachi. It is located at 33 7’12N

latitude and 71 5 ‘41E longitude and spreads over an area of 3,372 square kilometers with a

population of approximately 5,36,000. The climate is hot during the summers, with temperature

touching 40-45 degree and sand storms are common in tehsil Takht-e-Nasratti. However,

Lakkara (Shamshaki) regions are the coolest part in summer where peoples use blankets at night.

The average rainfall is from 30 to 110 inches in which the major precipitation time is summer

monsoon.

Karak is said to be a single District in Pakistan which is inhabited by only one tribe of

Pushtuns known as Khattak. There are three tehsils in the district. These include Karak, Banda

Daud Shah and Takht-e-Nasrati. There is one electoral constituency for National Assembly and

two constituencies for Provincial Assembly. The predominant language of Karak is Pashto.

District Karak has highest literacy rate after Islamabad and Wah. Since both

Islamabad and Wah are mainly composed of temporarily migrated people, therefore Karak is

ranked as the highest educated district. Diverse wildlife across the district with annual hunting

season of quails, cranes, black and brown pheasants. It is a well-known place for hunting quails

(Batair) and fowl. There are several natural resources that have been discovered in Karak. The

salt mines were well known in antiquity and a major source of salt for the Indian sub-continent

into British imperial times. More recently oil, gas and uranium all have been discovered. Oil and
gas reservoirs have been f ound in the town of Makori, Noshpa Banda and Gurguri(Muhammad

Fawad,2015).

Material and Methods

Collection of plants:
Extensive field surveys were under taken during the four seasons of year.Plant specimens were
collected either in flowering or fruiting stage. Further, specimens were processedas per routine
herbarium techniques recommended by Jain & Rao (1977). The specimens were identified with
help of different monographs, available literatures (www.efloras.com) and regional flora. The
plants name were corrected with the help of database “International Plant Name Index” (IPNI:
http://www.ipni.org) (Niaz Muhammad et al,2016).

Sampling Areas:

A field work was conducted for one year during 2015-2016. A number of informants were

interviewed for fedding purposes of wild vegetables”(Muhammad Fawad,2015). The informants

were from four different ares of Karak city i.e. Karak sar,Kanda,Shandri Khel,Levol Algadai.

Informants interviews:

Investigations were conducted in rural and mountainous areas of District Karak namely

Karak sar, Kanda, Shandri khel, Levo algadae because of their cultural and botanical richness. In

the process of recruiting informants, efforts were made to identify people regarded in their

communities as particularly knowledgeable on traditional uses of plants as food. The data was

collected through free listing interviews with randomly selected informants and field interviews

with key informants selected after free listing . The questionnaire was mainly focused on the

feeding claims and traditional beliefs of local communities and nearby people(Niaz Muhammad

et al,2016). Local language (Pashto) was used as communication source with informants

(Muhammad Fawad,2015).

Equipments Used During Data Collection:

The equipments during the Research work were Map of area, Camera. Knife, Polythene Bags

,Plant Presser, Pencil, Note Book, old English News Papers and Blotting Papers.(Khan et

al,2013)

Result And Discussion:

Medicinal information of Seven (7) plants were reported by interviewing local inhabitants i.e.

Hakims, herbalists, farmers and medicinal plant users. The present investigation comprises the

indigenous uses of 7 species belonging to 6 families based upon their utility. The present

indigenous plants studies provide information on folk medicinal uses of the described plants. The

study area is nearly un–explored uptill now(Khan et al,2013) By applying survey, interview,

collection and identification methods, different information were accumulated. The check listed

information about the plant materials collected from the study area are described below;(A H M

Mahbubur Rahman(2013).

Brief descriptions and local uses of Wild Edible Vegetables of Karak:

Botanical Name:Amaranthus viridus

Local name:Ranzaka

Family:Amaranthaceae

Uses:Vegetable,fodder for animals,as tonic.

Botanical Name:

Local name:

Family:

Uses:

Botanical Name:
Local Name:

Family:

Uses:

Botanical Name:

Local Name:

Family:

Uses:

Botanical Name:

Local Name:

Family:

Uses:

Botanical Name:

Local Name:

Family:

Uses:

Botanical Name:

Local Name:

Family:

Uses:
The results of this research work can later be applied to biodiversity, conservation and

community development.

All over the world the edible plants are used with great interests and are active participants in the

trade and economy of the country. In China as many as 2394 traditional Tibetan medicines are

used all from plants (1106), animals (448) and natural minerals (840) (Rizwana Aleem et al,

2009). Many other important edible plants are sold at average prices in the market. Most of the

plants used by the local people are not conserved but are over exploited. It is therefore necessary

to find the ways of promoting the local people towards conservation as Shenji (1994) suggested

that ethnobotany is the science of documenting the traditional knowledge on the use of plants

by the indigenous people and for further assessing human interactions with the natural

environment. use of plants by the indigenous people and for further assessing human interactions

with the natural environment. The elderly women between the ages of 46-60 years were found

to be more knowledgeable about the number of traditional vegetables, their cooking recipes,

which were available in the study area when compared to young women and men who

participated in the study. According to Vorster et al. (2007) the labeling of traditional vegetables

as ‘poverty food’ and as indicative of being ‘backward’ is the reason why the youth are not keen

to learn about these vegetables (Niaz Muhammad et al,2016).

Conclusion:
This study first documented the information about the wild vegetables and their

traditional medicinal uses in district Karak. This study reveals that plants are still used as a major

source of food like vegetables as well as medicine for the local people living in the area. The

results of the study further suggest that these findings, although directly related to the study area,
but may have international relevance knowledge (Niaz Muhammad et al,2016). Indigenous

knowledge regarding sustainable harvest and utilization of plants resources should be

documented and preserved before they disappear( Himangshu et al, (2008).

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