Research Of Wild Edible Plant Resources And Traditional Knowledge In The Tejin Hanwula Nature Reserve

Based on the research area of the Tejin Hanwula Nature Reserve in Inner Mongolia,the field research of plant resource science,literature review,and Ethnobotanical interview investigation and cataloging methods were used in the paper to study the wild edible plant resources and the traditional utilization knowledge in the Reserve,striving to provide a scientific basis for the protection,development and utilization of wild edible plant resources in reserves.The investigation results are as follows.(1)There are 171 species(including infraspecific ranks,the same as follow)of wild edible plants in the Reserve,belonging to 46 families and119 genera and including 3 families,3 genera,4 species of ferns,1 family,1 genus and 1 species of gymnosperms,43 families,115 genera 166 species of angiosperms.At the level of wild edible plant family,there are89 wild edible plants from the 5 main families(Asteraceae,Fabaceae,Liliaceae,Polygonaceae and Rosaceae,every family contains at least 10 wild edible plants)in the Reserve,accounting for 52.04% of the total wild edible plants in the Reserve.At the level of wild edible plant genus,there are 7 main genera(every genus contains at least 4 wild edible plants)in the Reserve,among which the genera of Allium,Artemisia,Potentilla,Polygonum,Rumex and Vicia belong to the 5 major families of wild edible plants.(2)There are 145 species of wild edible herbaceous plants and 26 species of woody plants in the Reserve,respectively accounting for84.8% and 15.2% of the total wild edible plants in the Reserve.Herbaceous plants are the main life form of the wild edible plants in the Reserve,while 97 species are perennial herbaceous plants,accounting for56.73% of the total species and being the largest component of the life form of wild edible plants in Reserve.Regarding the water ecotype,there are 133 species of mesophytes and 7 species of hygrophytes,respectively accounting for 77.77% and 4.1% of the total wild edible plants in the Reserve.Besides,there are 31 species of xerophytes(18.13%).(3)The uses of the wild edible plants in the Reserve involve six aspects—food,vegetables,fruits,tea,condiments and oils.According to the investigation,there are 15 species that can be used as food,138 species as wild vegetables(accounting for 80.7% of the total species amount of the wild edible plants in the Reserve),22 species as wild fruits,25 species as wild tea plants,7 species as wild seasoning plants,and 2specie as wild edible oil plants.The edible parts of the wild edible plants also involve in many aspects(18 types),including flashy bracts,seeds,barks,fruits,rhizomes,tender stem leaves,roots,seedlings,bulbs,buds,sporangium stems,bulbs,flowers,stems,inflorescences,above-ground parts,whole plants and leaves,while the frequencies of tender stem leaves,seedlings and leaves are high-frequency edible parts(above 50 times for every case)in the Reserve,and these are the main utilization parts of the wild edible plant resources.(4)Based on the interviews with key information reporters,the field investigation and the identification of evidence specimens,a total of 86 Mongolian folk edible plant names in the Reserve are recorded,corresponding to botanical taxonomy-based 52 species(26 families and44 genera).The composition,naming method,and folk name-scientific name correspondence of these wild edible plants were analyzed.The characteristics of the Mongolian indigenous inhabitants named wild edible plants in the Reserve are closely related to their daily life customs.A total of 52 wild plant species traditionally used by local Mongolian residents are recorded,including 5 species of grain alternative plants,40 species of wild vegetables,14 species of wild fruit plants,12 species of tea plants,4 species of condiments plants,and 2 species of edible plantsthat can be used for oil manufacturing.Indigenous Mongolian residents utilize the wild plants in their own ways,and such characteristics have become an important part of their daily eating habits.Now,the long-term residents staff in the Reserve are also using the wild edible plants.In this paper,some recommendations are proposed on the protection,development and utilization of the wild edible plant resources and the traditional utilization knowledge in the Reserve.