Over 80% proteins consumed by the local people in Nujiang Prefecture of Southwest China, a remote and mountainous area in the Eastern Himalayas, are from pork, or Gaoligongshan pig (a landrace of Sus scrofa domestica Brisson). Previous research on the Gaoligongshan pig has focused on nutritional composition, production performance, and genetic resource characteristics, but neglected the reasons behind the local people’s practice. From 2019 to 2022, we have used ethnobiological research methods to comprehensively document the traditional rearing and management patterns and the traditional culture associated with Gaoligongshan pigs. The results show that Gaoligongshan pigs graze in mixed herds with cattle and sheep during the day and prefer to eat 23 wild plant species, in which 17 species have medicinal values. At night, the pigs are artificially fed and rest in the pigsty. The local Bai and Lisu people have developed a creative food culture, rituals, and festivals culture associated with Gaoligongshan pigs. Overall, the biocultural diversity of Gaoligongshan pig contributes to the in situ conservation of genetic diversity of this important hog landrace, and supports rural development in this remote area. Full article

In central western Spain, the bee orchid Ophrys scolopax Cav. is limited to a few localities of the Arribes del Duero Natural Park, reaching the municipality of Villarino de los Aires (Salamanca) to the north. Due to its restricted distribution, this plant is hardly known in this territory, with the exception of this village, where it is very popular. Although most of its inhabitants are unaware of various aspects of the biology of this orchid, for example its pollination strategy, the place where the only local population grows is well-known: the Teso de San Cristóbal (“St. Christopher’s Hill”), a place of ancient pagan rituals Christianised through the construction of a hermitage. The villagers also know that its flowering period coincides with the Easter celebration, and they have traditionally looked for and collected it there during Easter Monday. This ritual has evolved over time based on the needs and interests of the community. From a religious celebration aimed at blessing the fields, it became a game among young men to obtain prestige within the community, and from the end of the 20th century to the present, it has become a festival to revitalise cultural identity. In this article, we analyse how the aforementioned traditional practices affected this orchid species in the recent past, and we describe the educational actions (conferences, workshops, courses, etc.) carried out during the last ten years so that, while maintaining the cultural practices of the village, its population should be respected and conserved at the same time. Full article

The article presents the palaeobotanical investigations of a remarkable discovery from the Early Chalcolithic settlement of Isaiia–Balta Popii (Romania), a multi-layered site. The excavation of a dwelling brought to light a rather rare finding, meaning a medium sized ceramic vessel having deposited inside two objects of burnt clay: an anthropomorphic figurine depicting pregnancy attributes and a small cone. Given the special character of the deposition, several samples from the vessel and near it were collected for phytolith analysis. Our results highlighted a ritual plant deposition: Elongate dendritic and Blocky morphotypes suggest that cereals and probably Artemisia seem to have been used for this purpose. These plants are known, aside from their practical uses, as powerful symbols, used through the ages in magic practices. All of these facts are strong arguments to interpret this find as a result of a ritual related to fertility involving both feminine and masculine symbols and plant use. Full article

Prunus mume has been cultivated for more than three millennia with important edible, ornamental, and medicinal value. Due to its sour taste, the Prunus mume fruit (called Meizi in Chinese and Ume in Japanese) is not very popular compared to other fruits. It is, however, a very favorite food for the Bai people living in Eryuan County, Dali of Yunnan, China. The local people are masters of making various local products with plum in different ways. In this research, we conducted field investigations in Eryuan County using ethnobotanical methods from August 2019 to July 2021, focusing on the Prunus mume (for its edible fruits). A total of 76 key informants participated in our semi-structured interviews. The survey recorded 37 species (and varieties) belonging to 11 families related to the Bai people’s Meizi-consuming culture. Among them, there are 14 taxa of plum resources, including one original species and 13 varieties. These 37 species are either used as substitutes for plum due to their similar taste or as seasonings to improve the sour taste of plum. The higher Cultural Food Significance Index value implies that Prunus mume, Chaenomeles speciosa, Phyllanthus emblica, Prunus salicina, and Chaenomeles cathayensis have high acceptance and use value in the Bai communities. Among the various local products traditionally made by the Bai people, carved plums, preserved plums, perilla-wrapped plums, and stewed plums are the most famous and popular categories in the traditional markets. Currently, the plum business based on the traditional Meizi-consuming culture of the Bai people is already one of Eryuan’s economic pillars. This study showed that plums play an important role in expressing the local cultural diversity, and they also help the local people by improving their livelihood through their edible value. In turn, for the sustainable use of plum resources, the Bai people positively manage local forests through a series of measures to protect the diversity of plum resources and related plant communities. Full article

An ethnobotanical field study focusing on traditional wild greens (WGs) was carried out in Central Crete, Greece. Through thirty-one semi-structured interviews, a total of fifty-five wild green plants and their culinary uses and linguistic labels were documented; they were mostly consumed boiled (vrasta) or fried (tsigariasta), as a filling for homemade pies. Comparison with some Greek historical data of the 19th and 20th centuries showed that WGs have remained resilient and are still present in the current Cretan diet. Cross-cultural comparison with the WGs gathered and consumed in other areas of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean demonstrated a remarkable diversity of Cretan WGs and important similarities with those consumed in Greek-speaking Cyprus, the Bodrum area of Turkey, coastal Syria, and Southern Italy. We discussed the cognitive categories linked to Chorta, as well as the possible origin of an original “bulk” of post-Neolithic food weeds that could have spread from the Fertile Crescent westwards across the Mediterranean basin over a few millennia. The current study represents a crucial effort to document and preserve the bio-cultural gastronomic heritage of Chorta and it is advisable that both biology and history scholars, as well as policy makers, pay needed attention to the WGs of the Cretan and Mediterranean diet. Full article

Plant resources have always been valuable in human life, and many plant species are used in medicine, food, and ritual, and resource utilization is closely related to cultural diversity. Our study was conducted from June 2019 to April 2021, during which we aimed to document the local knowledge of plant resources of five ethnic groups, i.e., the Gujjar, Bakarwal, Kashmiri, Pahari, and Dogra communities of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) region, Western Himalayas. Through semi-structured interviews (N = 342) and group discussions (N = 38), we collected data on the ethnobotanical uses of plant resources. The data was subjected to hierarchical cluster analysis and ordination techniques (Principal Component Analysis) via, R software of version 4.0.0. Traditional uses were classified into three groups, i.e., single-, double-, and multi-use groups. The study recorded a total of 127 plant species, belonging to 113 genera and distributed among 64 botanical families. The dominant plant families were the Asteraceae, with 8% of all species, followed by Lamiaceae (6%), Polygonaceae (5%) and Ranunculaceae (4%). The recorded plant taxa were frequently used for medicine (51.4% responses), followed by food (14.9%), and fodder (9.5%). Principal component analysis (PCA) separated three groups of provisioning services depending on plant consumption preference levels. Comparative analysis showed remarkable similarities in plant uses (food, medicinal) among the Gujjar and Bakarwal ethnic groups, as both groups share a common culture. Some plants like Azadirachta indica, Brassica campestris, Ulmus wallichiana, Amaranthus blitum, and Celtis australis were also used for magico-religious purposes. We also recorded some medicinal uses that are new to the ethnobotanical literature of the J&K Himalayas, such as for Betula utilis, Sambucus wightiana, and Dolomiaea macrocephala, in our case for example local medicinal recipe, which is derived from Dolomiaea macrocephala, often known as Nashasta, used to treat weakness, back pain, and joint pain. Similarly, we also recorded new food uses for Eremurus himalaicus. Moreover, we also observed some plants for instance, Fragaria nubicola, Betula utilis and Juniperus communis have spiritual significance (i.e., amulets and scrolls) for this part of the Himalayan region. The present study provides a useful tool for resource management and can help in developing scientifically informed strategies for the conservation of plant resources. Full article

Traditional diets exist in all cultures and geographic regions, and they often represent healthy eating options. Traditional culinary preparations have, however, often undergone profound change, even in the isolated Himalayan region. Therefore, we adapted methods to identify traditional plant foraging activities to better understand their significance in food system sustainability, as well as to promote innovative local gastronomies. Information on wild food and foraging practices was gathered from varied ethnic groups such as Kashmiri, Gujjars, Pahari, Dogra, Bakarwal, Balti, Beda and Brokpa through interviews (n = 716) and group discussions (n = 67) in four bio-geographic regions of the Jammu and Kashmir Himalayas (J&KH). The data were subjected to ordination techniques (Principal Component Analysis) via R software Ver. 4.0.0. We documented 209 food species, of which 73% were plants and 27% animals, used by the inhabitants of four bio-geographic regions of J&KH. The highest number of food plant species was recorded in Indian Kashmir, followed by Jammu, Azad Kashmir and Ladakh (81, 65, 60 and 27 species, respectively), and the maximum number of animal species was reported in Indian Kashmir, followed by Azad Kashmir, Ladakh and Jammu (33, 21, 19 and 17 species, respectively). The Azad Kashmir and Indian Kashmir regions showed greater similarity, whereas the least overlap was observed between Kashmir and Ladakh. The PCA showed considerable variation between different regions, and specific groups of species were more related to one specific region than others. The reported uses of Abies pindrow, Acacia modesta, Bergenia ciliata, Bergenia stracheyi and Juglans regia among plants, and Jynx torquilla, Streptopelia orientalis and Tadorna ferruginea among animals, are novel for the gastronomy of this part of the Himalayan region. We also recorded for the first time from this region seven unique food preparations of wild animals. This study documented extensive traditional knowledge on the usage of wild species, and is the first scientific description of wild food species and their vernacular names in the Western Himalayas, Jammu and Kashmir. Our findings can contribute significantly to combating food insecurity by revitalizing and reconsidering the rich bio-cultural food heritage around which local traditional communities have developed their food systems. Full article

In 1766, the agricultural scientist Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti described for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the wild and cultivated plant species that could be used, in times of famine, to increase the quantity of flour or vegetable mass in bread making. These wild plants can be defined as wild edible plants (WEPs) or “alimurgic species”, a concept usually traced back to Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti himself. The 342 plant names mentioned in the text are in the Tuscan vernacular, so a research work was done on bibliographic sources from the 1800s in order to match them with their current nomenclature. This process led to an “alimurgic flora” repertoire based on the writing of Targioni Tozzetti; and a comparison with our AlimurgITA database of 1103 wild edible plants used in Italy. It is particularly interesting that in his short treatise, Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti identified eight toxic plants (corresponding to 14 species), indicating how to eliminate the poisonous substances from their useful roots. We treat them in detail, examining their current and past use, their geographical distribution in Italy, and their eventual toxicity. We obtained 343 matches, of which 198 were reliable (certain matches) and 145 possessed some degree of uncertainty (due to generic or collective vernacular names). Among the 198 certain identifications, 140 species are present in the AlimurgITA database (92 mentioned for Tuscany) and 58 are not; for bread-making there are only documentary traces of 53 species for Italy and 7 for Tuscany. Moreover, among the total 198 species, 84 showed some degree of hazard. Researching edible toxic spontaneous species allows: (1) investigation, from an unusual perspective, of a historical period in which the poor conditions of some social strata led to finding unusual solutions to food provision; (2) idea generation to re-enable potentially useful WEPs whose use has been lost. Making a virtue of necessity! Full article

An updated overview of the 29 threatened crop wild relatives (CWRs) endemic to Italy is presented, namely: Arrhenatherum elatius subsp. nebrodense, Barbarea rupicola, Brassica baldensis, Brassica glabrescens, Brassica macrocarpa, Brassica rupestris subsp. hispida, Brassica rupestris subsp. rupestris, Brassica tardarae, Brassicatrichocarpa, Brassica tyrrhena, Brassica villosa subsp. bivonana, Brassica villosa subsp. brevisiliqua, Brassica villosa subsp. drepanensis, Brassica villosa subsp. tineoi, Brassica villosa subsp. villosa, Daucus broteroi, Daucus carota subsp. rupestris, Daucus nebrodensis, Diplotaxis scaposa, Festuca centroapenninica, Lathyrus apenninus, Lathyrus odoratus, Malus crescimannoi, Phalaris arundinacea subsp. rotgesii, Vicia brulloi, Vicia consentina, Vicia giacominiana, Vicia ochroleuca subsp. ochroleuca, Vicia tenuifolia subsp. elegans. Data concerning geographical distribution, ecology (including plant communities and habitats of the Directive 92/43/EEC), genetics (chromosome number, breeding system, and/or the existence of gene pools), threat status at the national and international level (Red Lists), key plant properties, and in situ and ex situ conservation were analyzed and shown. At present, most of the listed endemic CWRs, 23 out of 29, have no gene pool at all, so they are CWRs only according to the taxon group and not according to the gene pool concept. In addition, there is a serious lack of data on the ex situ conservation in gene banks, with 16 species identified as high priority (HP) while 22 taxa have high priority (A) for in situ conservation. With the aim of their protection, conservation, and valorization, specific and urgent actions are recommended. Full article

When studying the evolution of the use of medicinal plants, it is important to identify what role, and to what extent, external factors and local biocultural diversities play in shaping cultural changes. We chose as a case study, which forms part of a larger project, a religiously and linguistically distinct group, the Seto, and compared their current and past plant use with that of the surrounding Võro. Ethnobotanical fieldwork was conducted in the summers of 2018 and 2019. Current uses of plants constituted 34% of the total registered use reports and 41% of those were used to treat general diseases or used as prophylactics. In total, the medicinal use of 86 taxa was recorded, and of these 48 were prevalent. Strong erosion (the abandonment of 43, mainly wild taxa used historically) and valorisation of the uses shared with neighboring as well as distant regions once part of the Soviet Union, were evident, signalling the potential influence of the centralised distribution of knowledge. The results clearly show that the plant medicine-related biocultural diversities of the two groups have been considerably homogenised, eroded and influenced by the knowledge spread through various means during the Soviet era and over the last 30 years. Full article

Medicinal-aromatic plants (MAPs) are important sources for the development of new valuable products of interest to human and animal health, and are also used as ornamentals for the horticulture industry. However, the increased global demand and the uncontrolled exploitation of these plants constitute a threat to their sustainability. To date, few scientific investigations have focused on MAPs valorization and their domestication. The purpose of this study was to evaluate for the first time the medicinal-cosmetic potential of 399 local endemic Mediterranean plants confined to Crete (223 taxa), the Mediterranean coast-Rif of Morocco (94), and Tunisia (82). The new methodological scheme was developed by experts through three multidisciplinary co-creative workshops and was adjusted by end-users to point-scoring of nine attributes evaluating the potential of the targeted neglected and underutilized plants (NUPs) in the medicinal-cosmetic sector. The results were demonstrated as percentage of the maximum possible score. These assessments were further linked and discussed with respect to feasibility and readiness timescale evaluations for sustainable exploitation of the focal NUPs. A great diversity of local endemic NUPs (30 taxa, 11 families) were associated with interesting medicinal-cosmetic properties (>35% up to 94.44%). Among them, 8 taxa showed the highest medicinal-cosmetic potential (>55% of maximum possible score), half of which are threatened with extinction. Although ex-situ conservation efforts and applied research work are needed to safeguard and unlock the full potential of the local endemic NUPs evaluated herein, the proposed multifaceted evaluation scheme revealed that some local endemic NUPs of the studied regions can be sustainably exploited in short- or medium-term, following successful examples of Cretan NUPs e.g., Origanum dictramnus. The sustainable exploitation of high scored taxa of the studied regions can be fastened through targeted species-specific research bridging extant research gaps and facilitating conservation and stakeholder attraction. Full article

The present study was carried out to enlist the medicinal plants used by the local inhabitants of developing countries such as India, and the district of Kupwara of the Kashmir Himalaya has been targeted. Our research is one of the first study focusing on the statistical evaluation of the cross-cultural analysis between three different communities i.e., Dard, Kashmiri and Gujjar, of the study area. Sampling was carried out in eight villages in 2017 to 2020, and data were collected from 102 informants based on walking transects, to collect plant specimens, and semi-structured interviews. The medical usages of all collected taxa were grouped into 15 disease categories and 81 biomedical ailments. In this study, we documented around 107 plant taxa belonging to 52 families from the local inhabitants of the Kashmir Himalaya, which regulate the livelihood of the people and support cultural ecosystem services. Asteraceae, Rosaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Ranunculaceae, Poaceae, Solanaceae, Polygonaceae, Plantaginaceae and Brassicaceae are the top most dominant families. Herbaceous groups of plants were more common than trees and shrubs, and 71.96% of herb taxa were employed as medicine. Liliaceae, Caprifoliaceae and Portulacaceae (FUV = 0.24 each) have the highest family use value (FUV). The most prominent family was Asteraceae (seven genera, nine taxa), followed by Rosaceae and Lamiaceae (six genera, six taxa each). Persicaria Mill., Rheum L., Aconitum L. and Artemisia L. were prominent genera. Valeriana jatamansi Jones ex Roxb. (47UR), Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don (45UR), Arisaema jacquemontii Blume (37UR), Asparagus racemosus Willd. (36UR) and Rumex acetosa L. (35UR) were the most important plant taxa with reference to use-reports. The ethnomedicinal applications of Aesculus indica Wall. ex Cambess., Solanum pseudocapsicum L., Ranunculus hirtellus Royle and Cormus domestica (L.) Spach plant taxa are reported here for the first time from the Himalayan Kashmiri people. We recommend further research on ethnopharmacological application of these newly recorded ethnobotanical plants. The medical usage of the plant was limited to different parts of the plant. In terms of the usage percentage, whole plant (26.17%), leaves (24.30%) and roots (19.63%) were found to have the highest utilization. The powder form (40.19%) was the most frequently employed method of drug/medicine preparation, followed by the utilization of extracted juice and/or other extracts (22.43%). The ICF values range from 0.85 to 1.00. Their use to remedy parasitic problems (PAR) and insect bites (IB) (ICF = 1.0 each) had the maximum consensus mentioned by the informants, although the number of taxa employed under this category was very limited. The different plant taxa used for the treatment of the gastrointestinal problems (GAS) was the most prominent disease category (262 URs, 16.19%, 25 taxa, ICF = 0.90). About 65% of the plant taxa studied is indigenous to the Asia or Himalayan regions, and around 35% is found to be exotic in nature. A strong positive correlation was found between age, gender, educational qualification and medicinal plant knowledge. No significant association was between people of different communities interviewed in terms of medical knowledge of the plants, p = 0.347 (>0.05) and χ² = 2.120. No significant difference was found between the number of species documented concerning gender as p = 0.347 (>0.05) and χ² =0.885. This study provides the comprehensive status of ethnomedicinal knowledge among three different communities of the study area. This study provided an impetus in discovering the baseline primary data for molecules which would help in drug discovery and management of various diseases, apart from conserving the genepool of plants in the investigated area. Full article

The nomadic pastoral indigenous communities of the Ladakhi people share roots with Tibetan culture in terms of food, clothing, religion, festivals, and habits, and rely widely on plant resources for survival and livelihood. This survey was conducted during 2019–2021 to document the indigenous knowledge about plant resources of the Balti, Beda, and Brokpa communities of the Ladakh region, trans-Himalayas. Open- and close-ended semi-structured interviews (N = 184) and group discussions (N = 17) were used to collect the data. Quantitative data was further analyzed using various statistical tools. A total of 105 plant species belonging to 82 genera and 39 families were used as medicine, fuel wood, fragrance, oil, food, flavor, fodder, decoration, and dye. Among these, medicinal use was most prevalent, with 70% of use reports, followed by fodder and fuel wood. Leaves (27%) were the most preferred plant part used, followed by roots and flowers. The principal component analysis revealed five clusters of ethnobotanical usage, i.e., food, medicine, fuel wood, fodder, and fragrance, oil, dye, and flavor. The maximum number of plant species used was reported by the Brokpa, while the Beda reported the minimum number of plant species uses. Delphinium brunonianum, Waldheimia tomentosa, and Juniperus indica played a significant role in the cultural and religious ritual aspects, whereas Allium przewalskianum, Waldheimia tomentosa, Juniperus indica, and Hippophae rhamnoides were commonly used as a livelihood source among Ladakhi communities. The local people collected most plants (65%) for self-consumption, while the rest (35%) were sold in markets as a source of income. The sustainable utilization and management of plant resources by local people is a strategy to boost livelihoods and food security and alleviate poverty. Full article

Local ecological knowledge (LEK), including but not limited to the use of wild food plants, plays a large role in sustainable natural resource management schemes, primarily due to the synergy between plants and people. There are calls for the study of LEK in culturally diverse areas due to a loss of knowledge, the active practice of utilizing wild plants in various parts of the world, and a decline in biodiversity. An ethnobotanical study in a border region of Latvia, characterised by diverse natural landscapes and people with deep spiritual attachments to nature, provided an opportunity for such insight, as well as the context to analyse wild food plant usages among different sociocultural groups, allowing us to explore the differences among these groups. Semi-structured interviews were carried out as part of a wider ethnobotanical field study to obtain information about wild food plants and their uses. The list of wild food plant uses, derived from 72 interviews, revealed a high level of homogenisation (in regards to knowledge) among the study groups, and that many local uses of wild food plants are still actively practiced. People did not gather plants as a recreational activity but rather as a source of diet diversification. The results provide evidence of the importance of safeguarding ecological and cultural diversity due to high local community dependency on natural resources. Full article

The foraging and consumption of wild food plants is a long-standing tradition in many parts of the world and their importance in promoting food security has become more widely debated in recent years. The current study aimed to document, analyze, and interpret the traditional knowledge of non-cultivated vegetables among four Pathan tribes (Alisher Khel, Hadarzai, Haji Khel, and Umarzai) living in the Gadoon Valley, Swabi District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, NW Pakistan, and to evaluate how these practices vary among the considered tribal communities. A total of 104 informants were interviewed via a semi-structured, open-ended questionnaire and group discussions. The field survey was conducted from October 2018 to November 2020. Information about local names, growth habit, used plant parts, food/cooking details, medicinal perceptions, availability season, and market prices were collected. The field survey recorded 51 non-cultivated vegetables belonging to 24 botanical families, for which the frequently used plant parts included young leaves, stems, and flowers. The greatest number of use reports was recorded for Colocasia and the highest cultural index value was recorded for Rumex dentatus; the dominant botanical families were Asteraceae and Fabaceae (six species each). Seven species were found to be sold at local and regional markets. Cross-cultural analysis among the four considered tribes showed that the largest number of species was reported by members of the Hadarzai and Umarzai tribes, although most of the quoted wild vegetables were homogenously gathered among all considered communities, with some more idiosyncratic plant uses among the Umarzai group, who have likely been less affected by the erosion of traditional knowledge or possibly have had less access to traded cultivated vegetables. The novelty of the data was assessed by comparing it with the previously published wild food ethnobotanical literature of Pakistan, which showed fifteen new wild vegetables not yet reported in the NW of the country. The recorded food biocultural heritage should be seriously considered in future local development projects aimed at fostering environmental sustainability and food security. Full article

Traditional ecological knowledge, linguistic, and sociocultural perspectives are key contributors to environmental sustainability. Therefore, it is essential to identify and preserve this biocultural heritage, especially that of indigenous communities and minorities. We conducted an ethnobotanical survey to document the plant species used by the Balti and Shina communities living in the buffer zone of Deosai National Park (DNP), western Himalayas, Pakistan. A combination of random and purposive sampling techniques was adapted, targeting middle- and old-aged informants. A total of 46 semi-structured interviews were conducted and the gathered data were evaluated using relative frequency of citation (RFC) and through comparison with the ethnomedicinal literature. In total, 47 medicinal plant species belonging to 42 genera and 23 families were recorded. Baltis and Shinas cited 42 and 38 plant species, respectively, that were used to treat various diseases. About 60% of species were common among both communities, but 27.7% and 12.8% were exclusive to Baltis and Shinas, respectively. Considerable heterogeneity was noted in vernacular names, plant part(s) used, preparation, and administration. Ribes alpestre, Aconitum violaceum, Delphinium brunonianum, Thymus linearis, and Swertia petiolata were highly utilized species having RFCs > 50. In addition, 46% of medicinal uses, specifically that of Allardia tomentosa, A. tridactylites, Jurinea dolomiaea, and Gallium boreale, were reported for the first time from the region. Cross-cultural analysis revealed sociocultural gaps between both groups. Relatively, Baltis retained more ethnomedicinal knowledge and their traditional medicinal system is more closely associated with traditional Tibetan medicine. Generally, Balti and Shina communities retain substantial biocultural and ethnological diversity, which has been reflected in the present study. Our findings underline the importance and need for sustainable utilization of natural resources, specifically the plant species of this region. However, an in-depth ethnobotanical investigation may underpin the holistic comparative medical ethnobotany of the entire region. Full article

An ethnobotanical field study focusing on traditional wild food botanical taxa was carried out in Kaniguram, South Waziristan, Pakistan, among Ormur (or Burki or Baraki) peoples, which represent a diasporic minority group, as well as among the surrounding Pashtuns. Through sixty semi-structured interviews, fifty-two wild food plants (taxa) were recorded, and they were primarily used raw as snacks and cooked as vegetables. Comparative analysis found a remarkable overlap of the quoted plant uses between the two studied groups, which may reflect complex socio-cultural adaptations Ormur speakers faced. Ormur people retain a rich knowledge of anthropogenic weeds and the phytonyms reveal important commonalities with Persian and Kurdish phytonyms, which may indicate their possible horticultural-driven human ecological origin from the Middle East. Some novel or rare food uses of Cirsiumarvense, Nannorrhops ritchiana, Periploca aphylla, Perovskia atriplicifolia, Viscum album,Oxalis corniculata and Withania coagulans were documented. Since the Ormuri language represents a moribund language, still spoken by only a few thousand speakers in NW Pakistan and Afghanistan, it is recommended that the traditional bio-cultural and gastronomical heritage of this minority group be appropriately protected and bolstered in future rural development programs. Full article

Biocultural diversity has made notable contributions that have furthered our understanding of the human culture-nature interrelationship. However, the usage of the term ‘biocultural’ is not unique to biocultural diversity. It was first used in biocultural studies within anthropology decades ahead of biocultural diversity. The existing literature on biocultural diversity does not acknowledge the prior existence of biocultural studies, or provide a clear demarcation between usages of the two terms. In this article, I discuss the varying contexts in usage of the term ‘biocultural’ between biocultural diversity and biocultural anthropology. While biocultural diversity deals with the linkages between biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity, biocultural studies in anthropology deal with the deterministic influence of physical and social environment on human biology and wellbeing. In biocultural studies, ‘biocultural’ refers to the integration of methodically collated cultural data with biological and environmental data. ‘Bio’ in biocultural anthropology therefore denotes biology, unlike biocultural diversity where it refers to biodiversity. Both biocultural studies and biocultural diversity apply ‘biocultural’ as descriptor to generate overlapping terminologies such as ‘biocultural approach’. Such a confusing scenario is not in the interest of biocultural diversity, as it would impede theoretical advancements. I propose that advocates of biocultural diversity explore its harmonies with ecoculturalism and the possibilities of suitably adapting the term ‘ecoculture’ in lieu of ‘bioculture’. Using ‘ecocultural’ instead of ‘biocultural’ as a descriptor to coin terminologies could solve confusions arising from the expanding usage of the term ‘bioculture’. Full article