Abstract:

The people of Meghalaya are very close to nature, and forests are one of the important natural resources in the state. The tribes of the state largely depend on forests for their livelihood and have acquired a vast knowledge about plant wealth and utilization of forest products. The present communication aims to document the traditional knowledge about wild edible plants used by tribal people of Meghalaya.  During present investigation, a total of 249 species of wild edibles belonging to 153 genera and 82 families were inventorised. Among them 129 are trees, 54 shrubs, 37 herbs and 29 climbers. The majority of the species were fruits bearing (125). Some edible plants have great economic value and are highly linked with socio-economic development of tribal communities of the state.