Ethno-Nutritional Uses of Wild Edible Vegetables in Ogun Waterside Rural Communities Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The food insufficiency, high costs and unreliable availability of healthy, nutritious food have led to the pursuit of alternative sources of nutritious, cheap and safe food such as wild edible vegetables (WEVs). Hence, the objective of this paper was to identify and obtain the ethno-nutritional uses of wild edible vegetables in Ogun waterside rural communities, Ogun State, Nigeria using appropriate standard procedures. The results revealed that the major plant parts utilized for various culinary and nutritional purposes were the leaves, seeds, stems, fruits, bulbs and rhizomes. The most used WEVs as raw vegetables or cooked soups were Vernonia amygdalina (0.77), Talinum triangulare (0.72), Telfairia occidentalis (0.67) and Corchorus olitorius (0.62) as evident from the values of the relative frequency of citation. In this study, 56.5% of the vegetables cited were consumed freshly or cooked as soups, while 26% are used as spices or processed into condiments to impart food flavour, aroma and taste of their foods. Also, 17.4% of these plant species had multiple edible uses. Information obtained on WEVs may be useful in identifying their potential nutritional uses and increasing dietary diversity as valuable food sources if sustainably cultivated which could become a crucial approach to tackling food insecurity.