Wild Edible Vegetables Used for Health Benefit by Rural People of Gondia District in Maharashtra State, India

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.35702/Trad.10009 the world. India is in the second position in population as well as vegetable production as per the requirements [1]. Forest resources, mainly plants and plant products, have an important place in the daily life of tribals and other forest dwellers. Forest provides food as Forest products (NTFPS) that are necessary not only for meeting their own requirements, but these are also a potential source of their income for livelihood [2].
Though plants have been used as a source of food, fodder, shelter, clothing, medicine and a verity of helpful commodities from earliest time, the value of wild edible plants in food security has not been given adequate attention in India [3].  [4,5].
Gondia district of Maharashtra state is well-known for the forest resources with abundant amount of flora and fauna.
During the year 2020-21, an estimated 2833 sq. km of area was under forest which constituted 50.22% of the total area.
These local people are still depending on wild food resources throughout monsoon season and consume with conventional way. During the first spell of rain in June -July leafy vegetables are available on a large scale.

Study Area
Gondia is an eastern district of Maharashtra and lies between 20.39 to 21.380 North and 79.27 to 82.420 East having total forest area of 2151.15 sq.km. The district is divided into eight talukas where most of the residents depends upon agriculture amongst fifteen villages were preferred from district which are in association with the dense forest. The vegetation of the district is interestingly diverse, as on north eastern part of district Satpuda hilly ranges are running, apart from this district has protected areas like Navegaon National Park and Nagzira Wild life Sanctuary which has been declared as Tiger Reserve by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and 46th of the country on the date of 7th September 2013 [8,9].

Field Survey
The detailed field survey was carried out by four members from our Institute during the period of May 2020 to April 2021.
During this period field tours were conducted in different seasons of the year. During the survey, data on local name, edible parts, available period, habit and habitat, phenology and fruiting period and nature of uses were collected and recorded. The data had been collected from the local people who have a strong connection with traditional agriculture for their day-to-day needs. The Primary data was collected through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), group discussion, semi-structured interviews and household survey.
The collected plant parts were identified using relevant scientific literature [10,11]

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The present study focuses mainly on some of the plants reported from forest areas of Gondia district for their alternative uses as nutritionally useful plants and reveals the data obtained during the study. A total of 50 plant species belonging to 28 families have been recorded in the present study (Table 1). Used as cardiac and possess antitumor, antipyretic, antiepileptic, antiinflammatory, antiulcer, antispasmodic, diuretic, antihypertensive, cholesterol lowering, antioxidant and antidiabetic activities.

Aaratfari
Olax psittacorum Olacaceae Leaves In Ayurvedic medicine, the bark is used in anaemia and as a supporting drug in diabetes; also in the treatment of fever.

Oxalis corniculata Oxalidaceae Leaves
This plant is edible and it is used as salad. This plant is anti-scorbutic and used in the treatment of scurvy. This herb is anti-inflammatory, anthelminthic, diuretic, febrifuge, relaxant, stomachic, astringent, analgesic and styptic in nature.

Bhuiawala
Phyllanthus amarus Euphorbiaceae Whole shrub It is an important plant of Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine which is used in the problems of stomach, genitourinary system, liver, kidney and spleen.  anti-nutrients composition. Hence it is essential to conduct a detailed nutritional and cultivation related investigation of some of potential plants. It has been also observed that traditional knowledge of wild food is a sharply declining due to rapid depletion of forest cover and our education system.
It is not focus on the traditional knowledge which has been established in our social and cultural system. It is essential to educate teachers on this platform to teach the students. The new generation will be interested to study the plants and local resources.