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BackgroundThe collection and consumption of wild edibles is an important part in livelihood strategies throughout the world. There is an urgent need to document and safeguard the wild food knowledge, especially in remote areas. The aims of this study are to accomplish detailed investigation of wild edibles used by the Naxi in Baidi village and evaluate them to identify innovative organic food products. Also, we aim to explore the characteristics of distribution and transmission of the traditional knowledge (TK) on wild edibles among the Naxi.MethodsData was collected through a semi-structured interview of key informants above the age of 20 years, chosen carefully by a snowball sampling. The interviews were supplemented by free lists and participatory observation methods. Informants below 20 years were interviewed to test their knowledge of traditional practices. A quantitative index like Cultural Importance Index (CI) was used to evaluate the relative importance of the different wild edibles. Linear regression and t-test were performed to test variation in the TK among the informants of different age groups and genders.ResultsAltogether 173 wild edible plant species belonging to 76 families and 139 genera were recorded in the study. Cardamine macrophylla, C. tangutorum and Eutrema yunnanense, have traditionally been consumed as an important supplement to the diet, particularly during food shortages as wild vegetables. The age was found to have a significant effect on TK, but there was no significant difference between male and female informant in knowledge abundance. The traditional food knowledge was dynamic and affected by social factors. Also, it was descending partly among younger generations in Baidi.ConclusionBaidi village is a prime example of a rapidly changing community where local traditions compete with modern ways of life. Overall, this study provides a deeper understanding of the Naxi peoples’ knowledge on wild edibles. Some wild edibles might have an interesting dietary constituent, which need in-depth studies. Such detail studies can help to promote the market in one hand and protect TK in the other. Protecting TK from disappearing in succeeding generations is necessary, and understanding the dynamics of TK is one important solution to this dilemma.

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Traditional agroecosystems play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity and in sustainable development. As a typical type of traditional agroecosystem, traditional homegardens have been receiving increasing attention from scientists, especially ethnobotanists. They are considered as germplasm banks for many crops and other economic plants. They are also a key site for domestication of wild plants. Current ethnobotanical studies on homegardens focus on their structures, floristic composition, and contributions to their owners. Traditional homegardens often show complicated structures, diverse floristic compositions, multiple functions, low input (including labor and money), and ecological and socioeconomic sustainability. The characteristics and functions of traditional homegardens are closely related to many factors, such as their geographic location and the cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic conditions of their owners. Many researches on homegardens are conducted in the tropics. There are few studies on the dynamics of traditional homegardens, especially those located in temperate, arid and semi-arid zones. The dynamics of homegardens and the factors affecting these processes will be a fruitful field for future research.

BackgroundHomegardens are ecologically and culturally important systems for cultivating medicinal plants for wellbeing by healers and farmers in Naxi communities of the Sino Himalayan region. The cultivation of medicinal plants in Naxi communities and associated ethnomedical knowledge base for maintaining and utilizing these resources is at risk with expanded commercialization of natural resources, development policies and rapid socio-economic change in China. Research is needed to understand the medicinal plant species maintained in Naxi homegardens, their use and contribution to community wellbeing, and how these practices and knowledge base varies between Naxi healers and farmers in order to develop plans for biodiversity conservation and preservation of ethnomedical practices. The main objective of this study is to document and compare medicinal plant species in Naxi homegardens and associated ethnomedical knowledge between Naxi healers and farmers.MethodsEthnobotanical homegarden surveys were conducted with three Naxi healers and 28 farmer households in two Naxi communities in Lijiang Prefecture in Northwest Yunnan Province of China. Surveys included inventories of medicinal plants in homegardens and semi-structured interviews with homegarden managers to document traditional medicinal uses of inventoried plants. Inventoried plants were classified into 13 ‘usage categories’ of medical condition groupings that impact a system of the body. Finally, plant species richness was calculated for each homegarden and species richness was compared between healers and farmers as well as between study sites using a Least Square Means Tukey HSD function.ResultsEthnobotanical surveys at the study sites found that 13% of households rely exclusively on traditional Naxi medicine, 26% exclusively use Western medicine and 61% use a combination of traditional Naxi and Western medicine. A total of 106 medicinal plants were inventoried in Naxi homegardens representing 50 botanical families. Over 85% of inventoried medicinal plants were herbaceous. The most represented families were Asteraceae (12.8%), Ranunculaceae (8.3%), Apiaceae (8.3%), and Polygonaceae (7.3%). The primary medical functions of inventoried plants were to treat inflammation (73 species), circulatory system disorders (62), nervous system disorders (41), detoxification (39), digestive system disorders (33), muscular-skeletal system disorders (26), genitourinary system disorders (26), skin conditions (23), respiratory systems disorders (22), and cold and flu (20). Local herbal experts maintained greater medicinal plant species richness in their homegardens compared to local farmers as well as had greater knowledge of medicinal functions of plants. Healers maintained medicinal plants primarily for healing while farmer households maintained approximately 90% of the medicinal plants in their homegardens for commercialization and the remaining for household healthcare.ConclusionsThis study highlights the importance of biodiversity and traditional ecological and medical k...