Exploration of Some Wild Food Plants Used by Local People of Kangchup Chingkhong, Senapati District of Manipur, India

Abstract

The study on wild food plants was carried out to document the wild food plants used by the local people of Kangchup Chingkhong of Senapati District, Manipur. An extensive and intensive field survey was done in March,2022 to April, 2023.Information was obtained from 30 respondent age ranging from 45 to 85 years old individuals who have a good understanding of traditional knowledge of wild edible plants. A total of 30 wild plant species belonging to 23 genera and 17 families have been reported from the area. Zingiberaceae was the dominant family that represented 9 taxa followed by Fabaceae with 3 taxa while Rubiaceae, Verbenaceae and Asteraceae represent 2 taxa each and other 12 families represent 1 taxa each. Trees, Herbs, shrubs and climbers form the habit of these plants. The highest proportion of edible species were herbs, 12 numbers (41%) followed by trees, 10 numbers (31%), shrubs, 5 numbers (17%), creepers, 2 numbers (7%) and climber, 1 number (4%). Among the parts, leaves were mostly used (27%), followed by rhizome (22 %), fruits (13 %), shoots and flower (11% each), bark and whole plants (5% each) and tuber and stem (3 % each).