Question

List of edible vegetables which grow naturally in sikkim forest

Answer 1

The wild edible plants form an important constituent of traditional diets in the Himalaya. In the Sikkim Himalaya a total of 190 species have been screened as edible species out of which nearly 47 species come to the market. The present paper deals with nutritive values of 27 most commonly consumed wild edible plants in the Sikkim Himalaya. Of 27 plant species that were analyzed for their nutritive values, 22 were edible for their fruits and five for leaves/shoots. Among different plant parts, generally higher nutrient concentration was recorded for leaves, followed by new shoots and fruits. For different species the crude fiber content ranged between 2.15–39.90%, and the total soluble salts between 4.66–21.0%, and the vitamin C content from 6-286 mg/100 g. The fat content was determined high in the fruits of Castanopsis species, Machilus edulis, and Cinnamomum species, while the protein content was highest in Hippophae rhamnoides, Cuc-umis melo, and Eleagnus latifolia. The total carbohydrate content ranged from 32-88% in the fruits of various wild edibles, the reducing sugar from 1.25–12.42%, total sugar from 2.10–25.09%, the lignin content varied from 9.05–39.51%, the hemicellulose between 25.63-55.71% and cellulose content varied from 9.57–33.19% in different species.