Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T18:31:21.905Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Wild plants of organoleptic or nutritional interest and food traditions in central Italy: some interesting cases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2007

Paolo Maria Guarrera*
Affiliation:
Museo Nazionale Arti e Tradizioni Popolari, Piazza Marconi 8-10, 00144, Rome, Italy
Aurelio Manzi
Affiliation:
Ente Parco Nazionale Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga, Via del Convento 1, 67010 Assergi, L'Aquila, Italy
*
*Corresponding author: E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Thirteen wild plants and their food uses in the folk traditions of some regions of central Italy are described. These uses that can be exploited for human nourishment were collected during field research (1977–2003). Some wild food plants quoted are not very well known. The herbs have been selected for their peculiar organoleptic characteristics (Taraxacum apenninum, T. glaciale, Crepis leontodontoides), for their nutritional interest (Bunium bulbocastanum, Sinapis alba, Sonchus oleraceus, Taraxacum apenninum, T. glaciale) and the possibility of their cultivation in marginal areas (see Chenopodium bonus-henricus, Podospermum canum, P. laciniatum and some of the quoted species).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © NIAB 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cambie, RC and Ferguson, LR (2003) Potential functional foods in the traditional Maori diet. Mutation Research 523/524: 109117.Google Scholar
Conti, F (1998) An annotated checklist of the flora of the Abruzzo. Bocconea 10: 1275.Google Scholar
Conti, F, Manzi, A and Pedrotti, F (1992) Libro Rosso delle Piante d'Italia. WWF e SBI. Rome: Tipar.Google Scholar
Corsi, G and Pagni, AM (1979) Piante Selvatiche di Uso Alimentare in Toscana. Pisa: Pacini.Google Scholar
De Almeida-Muradian, LB, Rios, MD and Sasaki, R (1998) Determination of provitamin A of green leafy vegetables by performance liquid chromatography and open column chromatography. Bollettino Chimico Farmaceutico 137: 290294.Google ScholarPubMed
De Simoni, E and Guarrera, PM (1994) Indagine etnobotanica nella provincia di Teramo. Quaderni di Botanica Ambientale e Applicata (Palermo) 5: 310.Google Scholar
Guarrera, PM (1981) Ricerche etnobotaniche nelle Province di Macerata e di Ancona. Rivista Italiana EPPOS 4: 2:99–108; 4: 220–228.Google Scholar
Guarrera, P (1987) Usi tradizionali delle piante nel territorio della Majella. Rivista Abruzzese: Fasc. Monograf. Erbe e Piante Medicinali nella Storia e nelle Tradizioni Popolari Abruzzesi. Chieti, Lanciano Centro Servizi Culturali Regione Abruzzo, Stab. Anxanum pp. 1745.Google Scholar
Guarrera, P (1990) Usi tradizionali delle piante in alcune aree marchigiane. Informatore Botanico Italiano 22: 155167.Google Scholar
Guarrera, PM (1994) Il Patrimonio Etnobotanico del Lazio. Regione Lazio, Assessorato Cultura; Dipartimento Biologia Vegetale Università “La Sapienza”. Rome: Tipar.Google Scholar
Guarrera, PM (2003) Food medicine and minor nourishment in the folk traditions of Central Italy (Marche, Abruzzo and Latium). Fitoterapia 74: 515544.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manzi, A (1987) Piante spontanee utilizzate nell'alimentazione umana nel territorio di Gessopalena. Informatore Botanico Italiano 19: 257264.Google Scholar
Manzi, A (1999) Le Piante Alimentari in Abruzzo. Chieti: Ed. Tinari.Google Scholar
Manzi, A (2001) Flora Popolare d'Abruzzo. Lanciano: Ed. Carabba.Google Scholar
Murray, MT (1991) Healing Power of Herbs Rocklin. CF: Prima Publishing.Google Scholar
Palma, L (1964) Le Piante Medicinali d'Italia. Torino: SEI.Google Scholar
Pieroni, A (1999) Gathered wild food plants in the upper valley of the Serchio river (Garfagnana), Central Italy. Economic Botany 53: 327341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pignatti, S (1982) Flora d'Italia, Vols 13. Bologna: Edagricole.Google Scholar
Polignano, GB, Laghetti, G, Margiotta, B and Perrino, P (2004) Agricultural sustainibility and underutilized crop species in southern Italy. Plant Genetic Resources: Characterization and Utilization 2: 2935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tammaro, F (1984) Flora Officinale d'Abruzzo. Chieti: Giunta Regionale d'Abruzzo, Centro Servizi Culturali.Google Scholar