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Food Resources In Maharashtra State: (wild, Little-known And Underutilized)

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ISBN: 9789394380813
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India is endowed with rich floristic and ethnic diversity. There are over 400 different tribal and ethnic groups inhabiting India. Apart from these, many forest dwellers and rural people possess traditional knowledge about plants. In other words, we can safely say that the Indian region is very rich in Ethnobotanical heritage which is being verbally passed over many generations. At the same time, we are presently well acknowledged by certain facts such as forest denudation due to illicit cutting, encroachment on vegetational cover, over-exploitation even in virgin forests, plant invasion even in protected areas and ‘hotspots’, ever-increasing population pressure, apart from development activities, climate change, change in lifestyle of some communities and the fast rate of acculturation. These have not only eroded natural wealth but also plantlore or medicolore on Indian landmass.

Dr.E.K. Janaki Ammal initiated ethnobotanical investigations and this scientific activity is greatly filliped by Dr.S.K. Jain and his contemporary senior botanists. Now, India has a trained group of ethnobotanists devoting sustained scientific attention in unearthing Ethnobotanical treasure and heritage. They have unlocked much of the accumulated knowledge related to diverse flora. As a result, vast amount of Ethnobotanical wealth is documented. The data, however, is very scattered in the form of manuals, special publications or proceedings, research papers, etc. It is now a high time to compile these works in the form of state-wise inventories based on selective areas of research in ethnobotany. There is hardly only one publication entitled ‘Handbook of Wild Edible Plants’ by Sood et al. (2012) from the region of North-West Himalaya. Such state-wise or region-wise compilation of inventories are the dire necessity to make readily available at one place. This will help greatly the future workers in Ethnobotany and more advanced studies based on the revealed plantlore for well being of mankind and the Indian nation in particular. Ethnobotanical investigations are initiated by Dr.V.D. Vartak and his associates in Maharashtra state. Their mission has been clearly followed by workers in different universities and institutions. Advances in ethnobotanical investigations in the state of Maharashtra are now well documented and published in various forms. Myself and my associates also carried out extensive and intensive ethnobotanical investigations in northern part of Maharashtra. After my superannuation from active service, I decided to have inventory based on our contribution in this realm, apart from the institutions and academic bodies as referred in the text. I personally decided to have only one aspect viz., food resources from wild, little-known and underutilized ones in the state of Maharashtra. The results of this study and compilations are being presented in this publication with the main objective stated above. Special care has been taken to put all researches on each species from different corners of the state. Each species is dilated with necessary information (plant name, synonyms, local plant names, phenology, occurrence of species, geographical region of people who used, part used, alongwith concerned literary source) which can be consulted by the future research workers in Maharashtra and outside as well.

Information contained in this publication would be an asset for research students, teachers, botanists in various compartments of enquiries in plant science. It is also useful for those working in fields like plant breeding, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, economic botany, besides plant explorers and plant lovers, I hope it will find place on the shelf of library of colleges, universities, research institutions, Govt. offices, agriculturalists, horticulturists, forest departments, apart from personal ones. More importantly, it will be useful as an aid for authentic publication for examining the issues of patenting. It will also act as a guide for alleviation of malnutrition, hidden hunger, poverty and food security. Traditional knowledge of food sources from entire state of Maharashtra, whether from wild or underutilized ones, will help widen useful food basket. After value-addition, these sources will help suffice the needs of mankind.

Dr. (Prof.) Patil DA

Dr. (Prof.) DA Patil, an esteemed botanist, earned his C. degree specializing in Angiosperm Taxonomy in 1978 and his Ph.D. in Botany in 1983 from the then Marathwada University, Aurangabad (M.S.). With over 31 years of teaching experience at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and more than four decades of research spanning disciplines such as Experimental Taxonomy, Biodiversity, Agrobiodiversity, Ethnobotany, Etymology, and Bioinvasion, he has made significant academic contributions. He has guided 16 research scholars to completion and authored more than 400 research papers and 27 books, some of which have been translated into European, Russian, and American languages. His excellence has been recognized with numerous awards, including the prestigious Prof. V. Puri Medal from the Indian Botanical Society in 2014 and the Dr. E. K. Janaki Ammal Award from the International Society of Ethnobotanists in 2020, along with ten other honors. A Fellow of multiple scientific bodies, including FLS (London), FES, FIAAT, FBS, FMAS, and FLSC, he has also served as an editor and member of editorial boards for botanical journals. During his academic tenure, he held key administrative positions such as Chairman of the Board of Studies in Botany (2000–2005, 2010–2015) and Dean of the Faculty of Science (2000–2005) at the then North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon (M.S.). Even after his superannuation in August 2015 as a Professor and Principal, he remains deeply engaged in research and continues to be consulted by various scientific and academic societies.

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