A scientific review of Wild Edible Plants from the Levant
Homepage for the “scientific review of Wild Edible Plants from the Levant” dataset. A list of 414 taxa traditionally used in the Levantine traditional diet, countries where they are used, plant parts, whether or not they have medicinal uses and provenance details. The dataset and references therein can be downloaded from here
Background
Located in the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea, the Levant region is known as one of the cradles of civilization. Much of this success was due to the high plant diversity of this area (Medail & Quezel, 1999), which allowed humans to transition from foraging into cultivation systems (Abbo et al., 2011). Crops of current global importance such as wheat, barley and a range of pulses originated in the region and underwent centuries of domestication. These remain a key element of today\’s traditional Levantine cuisine which over time has been shaped by the rich mix of cultures, religions exchanging traditions, and the influence of the Mediterranean and its plants (Gaul et al., 2021). WEPs often complement traditional Levantine dishes, with local communities still relying on their collection not only for their use in their traditional diets, but also for their medicinal value and their potential to provide a source of income. However, the traditional knowledge around the use of these species is at risk of disappearing due to food market globalization and the disinterest of younger generations (Hadjichambis et al., 2008). In addition, WEPs are often harvested in unsustainable ways, threatened by habitat loss due to urbanization, aggressive agricultural practices, overgrazing and politically driven mass migrations.
The aim of the present study is to compile and document Levantine WEPs reported in the scientific literature, along with the parts used and whether they are also used for medicinal applications. This information can then inform on knowledge gaps relevant to plant conservation and species prioritisation for conservation, and to guide selection of possible future food crops and underpin future strategies to enhance food security.
Methods
Primary keywords such as “wild edible plants”, “wild edible species”, “food plants”, “plant ethnobotany” and “useful plants” were combined with the secondary keywords “Jordan”, “Israel”, “Lebanon”, “Palestine”, “West Bank”, “Levant” and “Mediterranean” and then entered on search engines such as Google Scholar and Scopus. Additionally, the presence or not of medicinal uses in these publications was recorded and complemented with a second search combining the primary keyword “Medicinal” in combination with the secondary keywords from the previous search and the WEPs names. Only plants with a confirmed edible use in Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and/or Palestine were added to the list.
Full scientific names of the species, their authors and International Plant Names Index numbers (IPNI) were obtained by matching taxon names gathered in the literature review with accepted names from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP, 2020). Misspelled species were corrected to match existing species (e.g., “Eminium Speculatum” to “Eminium spiculatum” or “Publicaria incisa” to “Pulicaria incisa”) unless a clear matching species could not be found (e.g., “Apium seselifolium”). Synonymic species and their data records were merged under their accepted name.
Each species was manually queried against distribution data from Plants of the World Online (POWO, 2019) to determine whether these are native to the Levant. Only plants native to Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria were considered native to the Levant for the purposes of this study. Global native distribution of WEPs was obtained by matching these with data from The World Checklist of Vascular Plants distribution data (Govaerts et al., 2021).
Following Cook’s economic botany data collection standards (Cook, 1995), WEPs were categorized by their used plant parts (fruits, inflorescences, leaves, roots, seeds, stems and whole plants) and their edible uses (food and/or food additive).
Some wild plants have been subjected to certain degrees of domestication after years of gathering and cultivation. Thus, in some cases, WEPs are still harvested along with their cultivated alternative. Crops that are still harvested from the wild fall within several categories (e.g., escapees from farms and orchards or little domestication). These have been identified and highlighted by cross-referencing the obtained WEPs from the above search against Food and Agriculture Organization’s crop list (FAO, 2015).
Suggested citation
Suggested citation: Gómez Barreiro, P., Coleshill, D., Abulaila, K.,. Howes, M.J.R., Hani, N., Ulian, T. (2023). A scientific review of Wild Edible Plants from the Levant. figshare. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24101223.v1