Some Exotic Plants in Human consumption from Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra

A plant as a source of food is a fundamental element in the life of human beings. Though there are plenty of vegetable, fruits and other crops have been modified for good yield time to time throughout the world but the demand of the wild vegetables and fruits is increased now a days. The indigenous people, who dwell in and nearby forests, gather and consume wild edible plants as snacks, as a vegetable and at times of food scarcity. These people consume wild edible plants and rely on these resources to meet their food needs particularly in periods of food crisis. The diversity of wild species in Ahmednagar district offers wide range of edible plants and contributes to supplementary food assurance. The present ethnobotanical explorations conducted in region resulted in the information on about conventional plant uses of 52 plant species belonging to 32 families. Of these, maximum species belongs to Amaranthaceae with 5 species, 4 species each to Caesalpiniaceae, Fabaceae and Euphorbiaceae. Plants used in different recipes include 26 plants in curry preparation, 7 plants for making ‘chutney’ of pickled while 15 plant parts are consumed directly. Majority of edible plant parts are from fruits (19 species), leaves (9 species), seeds (6 species), Flowers (3 species) and for 10 species stem, tender shoots, underground parts like rhizome, tuber, etc. are used.