Evaluation of vitamin C of ethno-wild edible plants in Northeast India

Abstract

Ethnobotany deals with the usage of plants by different ethnic communities throughout the world for various purposes such as food, shelter, clothing, medicine, tools etc. North East India region is a part of eastern Himalayas with rich plant diversity. About 250 ethnic tribes inhabit the region with diverse cultures and traditional practices. Most of the ethnic communities in the region depend on natural resources directly for their daily needs and wild edible plants are one of them as they live in the vicinity of forests. This study deals with 20 wild edible plants, traditionally used by indigenous people. 18 genera belonging to 15 families with 3 species represented by family Lamiaceae. Different parts of plants are traditionally consumed as vegetables, of which 19 species represented with leaves as edible part. Berry, petiole and rootstalk constitute other edible parts. Most of the plant species were found to be rich source of vitamin C. Vitamin C content ranges from 6.24±0.34 mg to 79.91±1.52 mg/100 g fresh weight and maximum was recorded in Alocasia indica (leaves) and Oxalis corniculata and the least in Tamarindus indica. The findings indicated that these ethno-botanicals can be grown in homestead as sources of vitamin C in regular diet.