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Wild Gathered Food Plants in the EuropeanMediterranean: A Comparative Analysis1

M. Leonti, S. Nebel, D. Rivera, and M. Heinrich

M. Leonti (Center for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, The School of Pharmacy, Universityof London, 29-39 Brunswick Sq., London WC1N 1AX, Tel.: 0044-(0)20-7753-5844, Fax: 0044-(0)20-7753-5909, Center e-mail: phyto@pharmacy.ac.uk; Dipartimento Farmaco Chimico Tec-nologico, Università di Cagliari, Italy), S. Nebel (Center for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy,The School of Pharmacy, University of London, 29-39 Brunswick Sq., London WC1N 1AX, Tel.:0044-(0)20-7753-5844, Fax: 0044-(0)20-7753-5909, Center e-mail: phyto@pharmacy.ac.uk),D. Rivera (Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia,30100 Murcia, Spain), and M. Heinrich (corresponding author, Center for Pharmacognosyand Phytotherapy, The School of Pharmacy, University of London, 29-39 Brunswick Sq., Lon-don WC1N 1AX, Tel.: 0044-(0)20-7753-5844, Fax: 0044-(0)20-7753-5909, Center e-mail:phyto@pharmacy.ac.uk). Wild Gathered Food Plants in the European Mediterranean:A Comparative Analysis. Economic Botany 60(2):130–142, 2006. The Mediterranean basinhas a long and multifaceted cultural history and harbors a high biodiversity. Epidemiologicalstudies have drawn attention to certain traditional Mediterranean diets. However, wild gatheredfood species, which are an important, but fast disappearing element of these diets, so far havebeen largely neglected in scientific studies. In this study we compare ethnobotanical data ob-tained from field studies conducted in Southern Italy, Southern Spain, mainland Greece, andCrete resulting in the identification of a core group of 18 culinary used wild gathered plantspecies. This group comprises species like Papaver rhoeas L., Sonchus asper L., S. oleraceusL., and Silene vulgaris L. We argue that the culinary use of wild gathered weedy greens evolvedtogether with the neolithization process, since this offered the necessary ecological niches forthem to thrive, thereby enriching and securing the diets of European agriculturalists. Especiallywild gathered Asteraceae species seem to form a sort of proto-nutraceutical, which accounts fora significant input of biologically active compounds in the diet.

Plantas silvestres comestibles recolectadas en el Mediterráneo Europeo: Un anali-sis comparativo. Il bacino Mediterraneo ha vissuto una lunga e multisfaccettata storia culturalee gode di una ricca biodiversità. Studi epidemiologici hanno attirato attenzione su certe dietemediterranee. Attualmente l’uso culinario di piante selvagge e commestibili, elemento impor-tante di queste diete, si sta perdendo e ha ricevuto poca attenzione dal punto di vista scientifico.In questo lavoro mettiamo a paragone una serie di dati etnobotanici ottenuti da ricerche di camponel sud dell’Italia, nel sud della Spagna, nella Grecia e a Creta risultanti nell’identificazione diun gruppo principale di 18 specie selvatiche ad uso culinario. Questo gruppo comprende speciecome il Papaver rhoeas L., il Sonchus asper L., il S. oleraceus L. e il Silene vulgaris L. Metti-amo in evidenza che l’evoluzione dell’uso culinario delle verdure selvatiche è avvenuto duranteil processo di neolitizazzione poiché questo ha fornito le nicchie ecologiche necessarie. Attra-verso il loro uso gli agricoltori europei hanno arricchito e assicurato la loro dieta. In modo parti-colare le specie raccolte selvatiche appartenenti alle Astaraceae sembrano formare un proto-integratore rappresentando una fonte significativa di composti biologicamente attivi nella dieta.

Piante commestibili raccolte in ambiente selvatico nell’Europa Mediterranea:Analisi comparativa. La Cuenca Mediterránea tiene una historia cultural larga y po-lifacética y alberga una biodiversidad extraordinaria. Diversos estudios epidemiológicos hanatraído atención sobre algunas dietas mediterráneas tradicionales. Sin embargo, las especiessilvestres comestibles recolectadas, un elemento importante de estas dietas que va desapare-ciendo rápidamente, han sido hasta ahora casie olvidadas en los estudios científicos. En esteartículo comparamos datos etnobotánicos obtenidos de estudios de campo realizados en el surde Italia, de España y de la Grecia continental y en Creta, que conducen a la identificación deun grupo central de 18 especies de plantas recolectadas, silvestres, usadas en alimentación.

Economic Botany, 60(2), 2006, pp. 130–142.© 2006, by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.

1 Received 30 November 2005; accepted on 1 March 2006.

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IntroductionBoth in anthropology and ecology, a now clas-

sical distinction has been made between hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists. The former wereseen to rely regularly on non-cultivated managedplants, and the latter strictly on cultivated ones(Shanin 1971). In recent years, various studieshave shown that non-cultivated wild gatheredplants play an important role in supplying sea-sonal food in rural Mediterranean communities(Pieroni et al. 2002; Bonet and Vallès 2002;Rivera et al. 2005; Tardío et al. 2005; Tardío etal. 2006). Wild gathered weedy greens, compris-ing vegetables and salads, are an especially important element in local dietary traditions.Non-cultivated plants grow spontaneously inself-maintaining populations in natural or semi-natural ecosystems and can exist independentlyof direct human action (Heywood 1999). In prac-tice, the distinction between cultivated and non-cultivated species or varieties is not easy since acontinuous spectrum between totally wild andfully domesticated species exists (Harlan 1992;Moerman 1994; Logan and Dixon 1994; Hey-wood 1999). For instance, there are weedy andcultivated races of einkorn, barley, sorghum, rice,oats, pearl millet, potato, tomato, pepper, sun-flower, carrots, radish, and lettuce (Harlan 1992).

Plant and animal domestication is regardedas the most important cultural development inthe past 13,000 years of human history and, as aconsequence, today we depend on that tinyfraction of several species that have been do-mesticated (Diamond 2002). But anthropolo-gists and nutritionists argue that contemporaryhumans are, in a genetic sense, still Stone Agersand, therefore, are adapted to a pre-agriculturalnutritional pattern (Mann 2004). In contrast toour current Western diet, the Paleolithic dietgenerally consisted more of animal protein, lessserum cholesterol-raising fat, an almost equal

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omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio, almost exclu-sively fruit- and vegetable-derived carbohy-drates (no grains, refined sugars, or dairy prod-ucts), more fiber, and more phytochemicals.Eaton (2000) and Cordain et al. (2002) com-pared a Paleolithic model experimental diet,and dietary and epidemiological data of hunter-gatherers with dietary and epidemiological dataof current Western civilization. In conclusionthey claimed that the alteration of seven majorfunctional dietary factors, i.e., glycemic load,fatty acid balance, macronutrient balance, tracenutrient density, acid-base balance, sodium-potassium balance, and fiber content, are ingreat part responsible for western life-style dis-eases like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes,neoplastic diseases, and osteoporosis (Eaton2000; Mann 2004; Cordain et al. 2005).

With respect to the Mediterranean region,epidemiological studies confirm the influenceof dietary habits on morbidity patterns and cor-relate the consumption of fruits, vegetables,olive oil, and red wine specifically with a lowerrate of coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer,and a greater longevity in general (De Lorgerilet al. 1994, 1998; Keys 1970; Keys 1980; Trichopoulou et al. 2000). More specifically, aclinical trial within the “Lyon Diet HeartStudy” concluded that an alpha-linolenic acid-rich Mediterranean diet was able to lower therate of cardiovascular complications after my-ocardial infarction (De Lorgeril et al. 1994,1999). Sources of omega-3 fatty acids likealpha linolenic acid are green vegetables, nuts,seeds, game, and wild seafood while wild gath-ered vegetables are especially rich in alpha-linolenic acids and antioxidants (Biesalski andGrimm 2004; Crawford et al. 2000; Lionis et al.1998; Zeghichi et al. 2003).

Also, food is far more than nutrition or culi-nary art. The relationship between diet and thecondition of the human body and psyche has

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Este grupo comprende especies como Papaver rhoeas L., Sonchus asper L., S. oleraceus L. ySilene vulgaris L. Sostenemos que el uso culinario de verduras silvestres y de hierbas de loscampos de cultivo evolucionó asociado al proceso del neolitización, que ofreció los nichosecológicos necesarios para el desarrollo de estas especies, enriqueciendo y afianzando las di-etas de los primeros agricultores europeos. Especialmente las especies silvestres recolectadasde [la familia] Asteraceae, parecen constituir un tipo de proto-nutracéutico que aporta signi-ficativamente compuestos biológicamente activos a la dieta.

Key words: Mediterranean basin, wild (local) food, comparative analysis, (comparative)ethnobotany, Neolithicum, weeds, Mediterranean diet(s), history of plant use.

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been a subject of discussion at least sincePlato’s times (Skiadas and Lascaratos 2001). Itis now generally accepted that plants may beused both as medicine and food; moreover, it isdifficult to draw a separating line between thesetwo categories (Etkin 1996; Moerman 1994;Rivera et al. 2005).

The main goals of this project were to assessthe diversity of wild gathered food plants andtheir role in local nutrition and cuisine from asocio-economic and socio-anthropological per-spective as well as to characterize a representa-tive part of the ethnobotanically documentedplant species pharmacologically as well aschemically (Heinrich et al. 2005; Loboda et al.2005; Schaffer et al. 2005; The Local Food-Nutraceutical Consortium 2005). In this contri-bution, which follows a series of publicationsaddressing the pharmacological properties ofwild gathered food plants, we want to explorethe historical context, characterize the differ-ences between wild gathered and cultivatedspecies, and compare the ethnobotanical resultsof the three major field study sites within thisproject: Spain, Italy, and Greece.

The Prehistoric and HistoricContext of Agricultural

Crops, Vegetables, and WeedsWild gathered food plants have been part of

the human diet since time immemorial and it isargued that past societies made more use of thewild flora than is done nowadays (Diamond2002; Harlan 1992; King 1994). Today, only inrural communities and especially among (ex-tant) hunter-gatherer societies do wild gatheredfoods contribute substantially to the humandiet. This is certainly true since, beginningabout 8600–8000 BC, agricultural practicesbegan to provide humankind with carbohy-drates from cereals and proteins from pulses(Zohary and Hopf 2000). The earliest remainsof the neolithization process in Southern Eu-rope are dated to 6800 BC in Greece andaround 6000 BC in Southeast Italy, Sicily,Southern France, and Southern Spain (Zoharyand Hopf 2000).

As a consequence of agricultural activities,the diet changed dramatically to the heavy re-liance on only two or three staple crops (Loganand Dixon 1994). Apparently there were novegetables among the “first wave” of domesti-cates in the Near East (Zohary and Hopf 2000).

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The earliest remains of cultivated vegetablesstem from Bronze-Age Egypt (around 2000BC), but since the soft and therefore easily per-ishable parts of tubers and vegetables stand alow chance of being charred and preserved inarchaeological contexts, it is impossible to saywhen and where exactly vegetables were culti-vated for the first time (Zohary and Hopf2000). In large part, however, cultivated veg-etables represent an ecological by-product ofearly agricultural practices by entering domes-tication via the back door of weed evolution(Logan and Dixon 1994; Willerding 1986; Zo-hary and Hopf 2000). Here we treat weeds as“wild plants” because their gene pool is not af-fected deliberately or intentionally by humanactivity, even though they thrive in domesti-cated landscapes. Presumably tolerated andgathered weeds co-evolved with the crop har-vest techniques until being taken actively intocultivation and transformed into the agricul-tural races known today.

During early agriculture, plant species fromnatural communities—which were pioneers ofsecondary successions and endowed with shortlife cycles and high reproductive capacity—in-vaded the open space that had been created forcrop cultivation (Barrett 1983). By evolving intoweedy forms and thriving on the tilled arableland, they created serious problems becausepractices that tend to favor crops also tend tofavor weeds (Harlan 1992; Zohary and Hopf2000). Weed evolution went hand-in-hand withcrop cultivation (Harlan 1992; Zohary and Hopf2000) because weeds belong to the same ecolog-ical type as most crop plants (Willerding 1986).Generally, weeds accompanying agriculturalcrops are short-lived plants with life cyclesadapted to the specific crop plants and, in somecases, can be distributed only together with these“hosts” (Jacomet et al. 1989; Willerding 1986).The Middle East is not only one of the largestgene centers for cultivated plants in the world,but it is also the largest center for weeds and thecradle for many weeds common to the temperateand warm-temperate zones of the world (Zohary1973). Our modern weeds, and presumably all ofour obligate weeds, did not exist in their presentform before agriculture (Harlan 1992).

Most if not all leafy wild vegetables and thewild progenitors of today’s cultivated vegeta-bles are weeds (Maurizio 1927). For example,the family Brassicaceae furnishes many weeds,

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wild gathered food species and crop plants. InSicily alone, 24 wild Brassicaceae from 16 gen-era are occasionally exploited as vegetables(Heywood 1999), and at least 13 EuropeanBrassicaceae species are under cultivation(Franke 1997; Harlan 1992). The genera Bras-sica, Sinapis, and Raphanus are referred to es-pecially as aggressive weeds capable of infest-ing agricultural land. These genera also accountfor many cultivated and wild-gathered speciesand varieties (Heywood 1999; Maurizio 1927;Zohary and Hopf 2000).

The habitats for weeds in Central Europe de-veloped with agriculture and the construction ofvillages around 5500 BC (4500 BC uncal.)(Willerding 1986). Weeds follow ecologicniches created by human activity like fields,gardens, fallow grounds, pastures, and villagesas well as natural disturbances of all kinds.Also, they can be introduced intentionally orunintentionally into ecosystems (Fenton 2000;Harlan 1992; Stepp and Moerman 2001). Be-fore the adaptation of agriculture in Central Eu-rope, weeds would have had a chance to thriveonly in very few highly frequented Mesolithicresting areas (Willerding 1986), anthropogenicclearances, and natural succession zones. Fur-thermore, unintentional introduction of weedsduring the Mesolithic period could have oc-curred only with species that have bur fruits;later species with shedding seeds were intro-duced by way of contaminated crop seedsspreading via the corridor of the neolithizationprocess from the Near East and the Balkans(Willerding 1986). Prior to agricultural prac-tice, habitats where wild leafy vegetables couldthrive and be gathered were marginal and hadvery limited extensions in Europe since densewoody ecosystems dominated the landscape(Eberle 1975; Harlan 1992; Willerding 1986).

Agricultural practice has not decreased theavailability of wild plant resources as noted, forexample, by King (1994) but rather haschanged the bias from starchy resources fromtrees (acorns, nuts, beechnuts, cambium)toward a diversification and increase in the useof weeds as vegetables. Apart from providingvaluable nutrients, vitamins, omega–3 fattyacids, phytochemicals, antioxidants, and fiber,these vegetables were also part of the back-upresources should the crop harvest fail (Fenton2000; Huss-Ashmore and Johnston 1994; Mau-rizio 1927).

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Local Food in Southern EuropeThe many rural areas and communities in

Southern Europe, which follow traditional lifestyles and which provide examples of tradi-tional agricultural practice, serve as prime ex-amples of using disturbed habitats and theweeds growing there. This includes the use ofvegetables and fruits gathered in the wild.Southern Europe (Albania, Greece, Cyprus,Malta, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal) harbors alarge number of botanical species, a great pro-portion of which are endemic (Eberle 1975). Itis estimated that the Mediterranean countriesaltogether harbor around 20,000 botanicalspecies (Bayer et al. 1990), including weedyand shrubby species, many of which have so farnot been investigated chemically and pharma-cologically.

However, due to changing socio-economicalcontexts, the use of wild gathered greens is de-creasing (Bonet and Vallès 2002; Pieroni et al.2002; Tardío et al. 2005). It is noteworthy thatthis loss in local knowledge and use of wildgathered plant species is paralleled by an in-creased interest in such resources by the gastro-nomic and intellectual elite in the search fornew stimuli, culinary experiences, and healthyfood (for example, visit http://www.slowfood.it).

Forbes (1976) reports that in past winters,many villagers ate wild greens as a main dishwith bread and olive oil as often as every day,compared to twice a week in 1975. In Galli-cianò (Nebel 2005), people report that wildgathered foods were especially important dur-ing World War II when food was scarce and thatsome decades ago, people working in the fieldsate freshly gathered wild vegetables with breadand olive oil for lunch. Wild gathered foodsrepresented a healthy and adequate way to copewith food shortages derived from crop failure orfinancial poverty. Nowadays, young peoplefrom remote rural villages like Gallicianò mi-grate abroad where they work to earn money,which allows them to pay the bills and buy theWestern goods they did not have before. Thefew young people remaining in the villagesonly occasionally follow the tradition of gather-ing wild foods since small food markets withconventional foods have opened and displacedthe traditional life style.

Nevertheless, wild vegetables and fruits arestill used in traditional dishes mainly by the

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older generation. Both sexes gather wild veg-etables. In Castelmezzano (Southern Italy) andSierra de Segura (Southern Spain), women aremore knowledgeable, which seems to be therule in the Mediterranean (Forbes 1976; Nebel2005; Pieroni et al. 2005; Verde et al. 1998,2001).

Leafy wild greens can be gathered from lateautumn until early summer with a peak of abun-dance in the springtime. Historically, winter isconsidered the worst time of the year because ofthe limited range of foods available. It is duringthis period that the wild gathered vegetablesoffer dietary diversity (Forbes 1976). Wild gath-ered vegetables therefore can be nutritionallyimportant (Tukan et al. 1998) by supplying vita-mins, omega-3 fatty acids, polyunsaturated fattyacids (PUFAs), minerals, antioxidants, and fiber(Huss-Ashmore and Johnston 1994; Zeghichi etal. 2003) at a time when garden vegetables arenot yet ready to be harvested and no fresh fruitsare available.

MethodsThe field studies of the “Local Food-

Nutraceuticals” project took place in six ruralcommunities or regions of Greece, Italy, andSpain between 2002 and 2004; most of the indi-vidual studies already have been published. Thefieldwork in Greece was undertaken in the Her-aklion province on the island of Crete and inthe region of Zahorochoria in the province ofIoannina in the northwestern part of the Greekmainland. The Italian study sites are Castelmez-zano, a Southern Italian village in the region ofBasilicata (Pieroni et al. 2005) and the ethnicGreek community of Gallicianò in the region ofCalabria (Nebel 2005; Nebel et al. n.d.). Thefield sites in Spain were in the Serranía deCuenca, Sierras de Alcaraz and Segura, Al-bacete, and Murcia (Rivera et al. 2005; Verde etal. 2003).

Similar methods, including semi-structuredinterviews and participant observation, wereused in all the field sites to document the tradi-tional knowledge regarding wild gathered foodplants. Detailed information about the speciesused including recipes, seasonal availability,and the popularity of their use was pooled in adatabase for in-depth analysis and comparison.In order to secure database uniformity and com-parability, mushrooms were excluded from thediscussion even though they are eagerly gath-

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ered (for details, see Heinrich et al. 2005; Nebelet al. n.d.; Pieroni et al. 2005; Rivera et al.2005, 2006).

Results and DiscussionsFood Plants in Six Mediterranean

RegionsWild gathered vegetables are a category of

their own regarding folk taxonomic aspects. InCrete, edible wild greens are called vrouves orhorta, while in Epirus they are called lahana. InCastellmezzano wild gathered greens are calledfoglie (leaves) and include semi-cultivatedspecies (Pieroni et al. 2005), while in Galli-cianò they are called chòrta (Nebel 2005), i.e.,greens used as food or herbs. The people inhab-iting the mountain ranges of Alcaraz and Se-gura of Southern Spain do not use a term to de-scribe wild gathered greens as a whole. Insteadthey use three terms to describe differentgroups of wild gathered greens: collejas de-scribes the plants from which the young sproutsand leaves are used; esparragos describes thosefrom which the young shoots are eaten, such asAsparagus sp., Bryonia sp., or Humulus sp.;and the term chicorias refers to the Cichori-oides (Asteraceae), which typically is con-sumed raw in salads like Cichorium sp., Chon-drilla sp., Taraxacum sp., or Leontodon sp.(Verde et al. 2003).

In the six field studies, we documented 318wild or semi-cultivated food plant species: 173species in Spain, 147 in Greece, and 84 in Italy(Fig. 1). Of these, only 18 are used in all threecountries (Table 2). The genera with the highestnumber of species used are Taraxacum (11),Rumex (9), Allium (8), Prunus (8), and Onopor-don (7). The most common mode of prepara-tion is first cooking and then frying them to-gether with garlic and olive oil (Table 1). Theplant family contributing the most members towild gathered food plants is the Asteraceae witha total of 83 species (26%). The second mostimportant family is the Rosaceae with 36 gath-ered species whose fruits are either eaten raw,dried, or in the form of jams. In general, wildfruit like blackberries, pears, or arbutus fruit,are preferably eaten by children (Forbes 1976;Galt and Galt 1978; Nebel 2005; Tardío et al.2005). The 24 Liliaceae (s. l.) are sought fortheir corms as well as for their shoots. Shootssuch as Asparagus spp. are fried with eggs and

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the bulbs of Muscari comosum (L.) Mill.,which have been in demand since the earlyRoman times (Apicius 1991), often pickled.

The 20 Apiaceae are used as vegetables orsalads [Apium nodiflorum (L.) Lag.] or asspices [Foeniculum vulgare ssp. piperitum(Ucria) Cout]. The Brassicaceae (19) are one ofthe most important sources for wild gatheredgreens as well as cultivated species. Erucasativa Mill. (rocket salad) has become verypopular in recent years and is used raw in sal-ads while species from the genus Brassica andSinapis are boiled and then fried with garlic.Most of the 14 Lamiaceae are used as spicesand infusions (Thymus spp., Mentha spp., andOriganum spp.) except Prasium majus L. fromCrete, which is stir-fried or used in traditionalvegetable pies. The Boraginaceae are frequentlyused in Spain (7 out of 11) where they are aningredient for a hot-pot with chickpeas or pota-toes. The 10 Fabaceae are exploited for theirseeds with a few exceptions where the flowers(Robinia pseudoacacia L.) or the roots (Gly-cyrrhiza glabra L.) are used.

In order to contrast the importance of a plantfamily regarding their number of wild gatheredspecies, the second column of Table 1 showsthe number of cultivated species with Europeanparentage. The plant family with most species

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under cultivation in Europe and adjacent areasis the Apiaceae with 14 species cultivatedtoday while only one Boraginaceae (Borago of-ficinalis L.) is cultivated for food purposes(Franke 1997; Harlan 1992; Zohary and Hopf2000).

A Comparison of the FoodPlant Usage

The most striking aspect of the comparison isthe great diversity and relatively low degree ofoverlap of species used in the three countries,which of course depends also on the geographi-cal distribution of the species. On the otherhand and considering the common culturalbackground, a comparison between the plantsused by the descendents of the Magna Graeciain Southern Italy (Gallicianò) and in Greece(Crete and Epirus), both living in regions withsimilar vegetation, is highly illuminating (Hein-rich et al. 2005; Nebel and Heinrich n. d.). Ofthe 38 plants used in Gallicianò, 21 are used inGreece, too.

Apium nodiflorum (L.) Lag is used in Italiancommunities and the Graecanic area, but onlyone reference to the use of A. nodiflorum inGreece (Cyprus) was found in the literature(Savvides 2000). Reseda alba L. is heavily usedin Gallicianò but not in Italian communities

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Fig. 1. Wild gathered species recorded during field research: Spain 173, Greece, 147, Italy 84.

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where the plant is considered too bitter. Thetops of the shoots are eaten raw seasoned witholive oil or after being cooked and then stir-fried with garlic and olive oil. In the literature,only two references to the use of R. alba asfood were found. First, young leaves of R. albawere used as vegetable in Greece (Heldreich1862) and, second, as salad by Greek farmersof the surroundings of Larnaca in Cyprus(Arnold Apostolides 1985). Interestingly, bothrecords are from regions of the EasternMediterranean, which were, in historic times,part of the Greek and Byzantine empires, as theGraecanic area in Southern Italy. For someplants from Greece (GR) and Gallicianò (I),cognates were detected, which suggests thatthey have been used as vegetables since pre-Roman times: “tsochos” (GR) and “zuccho” (I)for Sonchus asper L. & S. oleraceus L., or “an-drakla” (GR) and “andrácla” (I) for Portulacaoleracea L. (see Table 2 and Nebel and Hein-rich n.d.).

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Are Wild Gathered and CultivatedSpecies the Same?

In the field sites of this study, wild gatheredgreens are conceptualized as a distinct group ofvegetables forming a category of their own re-garding local taxonomic classifications (Hein-rich et al. 2005). For culinary purposes, how-ever, the most common recipes use gatheredspecies in an identical way to the cultivatedones. Often these two groups are combined inthe same dish. The 11 most important plantfamilies within the number of wild gatheredfood species comprise eight of the nine mostimportant plant families regarding the numberof species with a history of domestication inEurope (Table 1).

However, wild gathered greens differ fromcultivated vegetables regarding their chemicalcomposition and nutritional value (Zeghichi etal. 2003). Apart from the selection for higheryields and ecological adaptation, cultivated

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Table 1. Plant families most utilized for wild gathered foods in the European Mediter-ranean.

FamilyNumber of

species* Parts used Preparation Period of gathering

Asteraceae 83(c:6/r:8)

Whorls, shoots, stems,roots, receptacles

Boiled and fried witholive oil and garlic

Spring

Rosaceae 36(c:13/r:3)

Fruits Raw, jam, dried Summer, autumn

Liliaceae (s. l.) 24(c:8/r:7)

Bulbs, corms Omelet, boiled andfried, pickled

Spring, Autumn,winter

Apiaceae 20(c:14/r:1)

Shoots, leaves, roots,seeds

Salad, boiled and fried,spice

Spring, summer

Brassicaceae 19(c:13/r:2)

Shoots, leaves Salad, boiled and fried Winter, spring

Lamiaceae 14(c:11/r:5)

Aerial parts Spice, infusion Spring, summer

Boraginaceae 11(c:1/r:14)

Shoots Soups, stews, pies,fried

Spring, summer

Fabaceae (s. l.) 10(c:12/r:4)

Fruits, aerial parts,root, flower

Raw, boiled Spring, summer

Polygonaceae 9(c:0)

Leaves, shoots Boiled and fried, pies Spring

Chenopodiaceae 5(c:4/r:9)

Shoots, aerial parts Boiled and fried, pies Spring, summer

Scrophulariaceae 5(c:0)

Shoots Salad, boiled and fried Spring, summer

* Most important plant families as sources for wild gathered greens and fruits. Number of cultivated food species (c:)per family with European parentage are given in parenthesis as well as the ranking (r:) based on the number of cultivatedspecies. For comparison: Poaceae 3 (c:11/r:6). (after Harlan 1992, Franke 1997, Zohary and Hopf 2000).

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species and races are selected for having a morepalatable and “sweeter” taste, and they containless fiber and secondary compounds (Johns1990). Wild gathered greens and fruits are morefibrous and contain higher concentrations and agreater diversity of secondary compounds.These secondary compounds are chemicals

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with a wide range of potentially physiologicaland pharmacological interactions includingtoxic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-atherosclerotic, astringent, hypo-glycemic, appetizing, diuretic, stomachic,carminative, laxative, aphrodisiac, and moreproperties. Rivera et al. (2005) report on 145

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Table 2. Wild gathered and semi-cultivated plant species documented in all three coun-tries during the consortium’s field work.

Family Species

Vernacular names

GreekC—CreteE—Epiros

ItalyG—Galliciano

CA—Castelmezzano

SpainA—AlbaceteCU—Cuenca

Apiaceae Foeniculum vulgare ssp.piperitum (Ucria)Cout.

AgriomarathosC MasaroG

fenucchie salvacceCA

Hinojo

Asteraceae Chondrilla juncea L. ** GrospartuG LizonesA, tallerasA,achicoriasCU,chicoriasCU

Cichorium intybus L. RadıkiC,RodikioC

G: **, cicoireCA Chicorias,achicorias

Crepis vesicaria L. PikrosirıdaC MaroglieCA CamarrojasHypochoeris radicata L. PlatsaC CostardeddheG Collejicas del praoA,

hociquillosCU,morrillosCU,morrillaCU

Lactuca serriola L. Agrio maruloC

seulo a glineE

Glossa to sciddhioG,lactucastreCA

Cardenchilla

Scolymus hispanicus L. AscolimprosC SculımbriG Cardillos, cardilloSonchus asper L. Tsochos ZucchoG Cerrajilla, crujieraSonchus oleraceus L. Tsochos ZucchoG, sivoneCA CerrajasA, forrajasA,

borrajasA

CerrajillaCU,crujieraCU

Boraginaceae Borago officinalis L. Buranza GabbuınaG,vurrascineCA,sucameleCA

Borrajas

Caryophyllaceae Silene vulgaris(Moench) Garke

Papulia CavuraciG Collejas

Chenopodiaceae Beta vulgaris ssp.maritima (L.) Arcang.

** JeteCA Acelgas de campo

Ericaceae Arbutus unedo L. Kumaria GrumeCA MadronosLiliaceae Allium ampeloprasum L. PrasakiC Aglie ardiddeCA Ajoporros, ajos

porrosMoraceae Ficus carica L. Agriosukia SicoG, ficheCA HigueraPapaveraceae Papaver rhoeas L. KutsunadaC,

KontotsipaE

Paparouna

PaparınaG, paparineCA,scattebotteCA

Babaoles dulces

Portulacaceae Portulaca oleracea L. GlustrıdaC,AndraklaE

AndraclaG,PerchiazzeCA

VerdolagaA,VerdulagaCU,emporretosCU

Rosaceae Crataegus monogynaJacq.

Trikokkia CeraseddeCA MajoletasA,MajuelasCU

** plant used, but no vernacular name documented

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wild gathered food species from Alcaraz, Se-gura, and Serrania de Cuenca in SouthernSpain. Of these 145 species, 81 are also usedmedicinally and 61 of those are administeredorally using the same plant part used in the culi-nary preparations. Hence, the proportion of me-dicinal plants among gathered food species wasfound to be approximately twice as high ascompared to cultivated food species. The phar-macological properties of food plants arewidely recognized in many cultures and phar-macologically active phytochemicals may de-liberately be included in the diet (Johns 1990).These medicinal food species fit into the mod-ern concept of a nutraceutical or functionalfood (see also the EU-project “Local Food-Nutraceuticals”; Heinrich et al. 2005; TheLocal Food-Nutraceutical Consortium 2005).The medicinal character of wild weedy greenshas been described before (Etkin and Ross1983; Forbes 1976; Guarrera 2003; Pieroni etal. 2002). Forbes (1976) writes that peopleoften claim that eating horta aids digestion andcleanses the blood as well as the rest of thebody. In Crete, artichoke leaves and stalks arenot only esteemed for their delicious taste butare also said to lower blood sugar levels andconsidered as a therapy to control diabetes typeII. The corms of the tassel hyacinth (Muscaricomosum (L.) Mill., syn. Leopoldia comosa(L.) Parl.) are used as an aphrodisiac. Amaran-thus spp. are used as a sedative and are said toalleviate inflamed joints. The inhabitants of theGraecanic area often ascribe a specific taste tosingular plant species, particularly to ta chòrtaspecies. Bitterness is associated with health andin Gallicianò the bitter tasting Lactuca viminea(L.) J. Presl. & C. Presl. or Reseda alba L. areconsidered to be healthy by being “good for theliver” and having blood-cleansing properties(Nebel et al. n.d.). Furthermore, Heldreich(1862) reports that the Greeks considered manyAsteraceae species to be healthy because oftheir bitterness.

It can be argued that the safety of these wildgathered greens has been evaluated empiricallyover the millennia by cultures and people.Nonetheless this ethnobotanical survey revealedsome toxic species. We found that in Crete aswell as in Catalonia (Bonet and Vallès 2002),bracken fern Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn isused as a vegetable. This plant contains the car-cinogenic glycoside ptaquiloside (Frohne and

138 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 60

Jensen 1998) and should be relished with pru-dence. The very palatable corms from Meren-dera montana Lange are occasionally used as asnack in Spain and were in demand as a faminefood during the Spanish Civil War. The genusas well as the species is known to containhighly cytotoxic colchicine alkaloids (Gómez etal. 2003; Husek et al. 1989). The BoraginaceaeSymphytum bulbosum Schimp. and Lithosper-mum arvense L. as well as the members of thegenus Echium that are used as vegetables arelikely to contain the hepatotoxic pyrrolizidinealkaloids (Frohne and Jensen 1998) and shouldbe consumed in minor quantities. Except for M.montana, the chronic nature of these toxic ef-fects seems to be responsible for the local per-ception that the species is safe.

When looking at the comparative importanceof wild gathered versus cultivated food plants,another interesting pattern emerges. The impor-tance of plant families as a source for wildgathered food parallels their importance in agri-culture with the exception of the Poaceae andthe Asteraceae (Table 1). According to Holm(1978), the Poaceae and the Asteraceae are themain source of noxious weeds and together ac-count for 38% of the world’s worst weeds.Stepp and Moerman (2001) and Stepp (2004)have gathered evidence that suggests that weedscontain more bioactive secondary compoundswhen compared to a random selection of flora.While they include the world’s most importantcrops, the Poaceae are one of the most under-represented plant families in terms of the num-ber of species they contribute to traditionalpharmacopoeias (Leonti et al. 2003; Moerman1994; Stepp and Moerman 2001). Various rea-sons for this low appreciation with respect tomedicinal uses like conspicuousness, grow-back strategy and low phytochemical diversityand content have been discussed (Stepp andMoerman 2001). The families that have veryfew taxa selected for cultivation are the Boragi-naceae, Polygonaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and,most importantly, with respect to their hugecontribution to wild gathered greens, the Aster-aceae. The chemically very diversified Aster-aceae are the main source of medicinal plantspecies used by traditional societies in a varietyof applications in the northern hemisphere(Leonti et al. 2003; Moerman et al. 1999; Steppand Moerman 2001).

Johns (1990) hypothesizes that once such sec-s–o–l–

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ondary compounds may have served a prophy-lactic role in controlling the increased loads ofparasites, infectious diseases, and ailments theNeolithic life style brought along. Furthermore,he argues that through time, plant secondarycompounds became part of the normal digestiveecology of healthy individuals and populationsand essential health promoting constituents in abalanced nutrition (Johns 1990). Wild gatheredweedy greens and fruits may, therefore, not onlybe an emergency source of food in times offamine (as a source for additional carbohy-drates, proteins, vitamins, PUFAs, and miner-als), but they also compensate for the lack ofpharmacologically active substances, which cul-tivated species lost during domestication. Weedsused as food might represent not only the miss-ing link between a presumably well-balancedPaleolithic diet (Cordain et al. 2005) and the rel-atively abruptly changing dietary patterns duringthe early Neolithic phase, but also the link be-tween the agriculturalists’ diet and the one of theindustrialized, post modern world.

It is now well established that medicine maybe food and food may be medicine (Etkin1996; Moerman 1994; Rivera et al. 2005).People who traditionally gather wild greensknow about additional health beneficial proper-ties of wild gathered greens. Therefore, theycan deliberately choose between cultivated andnon-cultivated species available to them andseek desired pharmacological effects consum-ing traditional dishes including wild gatheredgreens.

ConclusionsWith the onset of the Neolithic era, a new di-

mension of human-plant relationship devel-oped. Ecological niches created by agriculturalactivity allowed genetically predisposed speciesto thrive and develop as weeds in close humanvicinity. During the expansion of the Neolithiceconomy, the seeds of weeds were transportedand distributed together with the crop seeds andthereby invaded new territory where the weedycommunity could affiliate and incorporate newspecies.

Based on the present discussion, we suggestthat the transition from the late Paleolithic andMesolithic toward the Neolithic economy wasaccompanied by a diversification and increasein the use of weeds as vegetables in the NearEast, the Mediterranean basin, and temperate

2006] LEONTI, ET AL.: WILD EUROPEAN FOOD PLANTS 139

Europe, remnants of which can still be found insome local and traditional knowledge systems.While, as a result of cereal cultivation, the ex-ploitation of starchy resources from trees de-clined and continued to play a role only asemergency foods, the increasing culinary use ofwild gathered weedy greens also reflects agri-culturalists’ dietary needs regarding micro-nutrients and plant secondary compounds. Es-pecially the wild gathered Asteraceaen foodspecies seem to form a type of proto-nutraceuticals, which together with the otherwild gathered species account for a significantinput of biologically active secondary com-pounds in the diet. A traditional lunch observedby Nebel et al. (n.d.) in which, for example,pasta (Triticum durum Desf., Poaceae) wasserved as a first course and wild gatheredgreens (mixed Asterceae and other plant fami-lies) as a second course, or the combination ofbread with ta chòrta exemplifies the dualism offood as medicine. Plants from the Poaceae fam-ily (energy) are consumed together with Aster-aceae (nutrients and medicine).

Further, we suggest that, as a consequence,this intimate human-plant relationship, which isrepresented by the increasing use of weeds as afood source, promoted the development of theNeolithic pharmacopoeias. Changing culturaland environmental factors during the Neolithiceconomy—i.e., changes in the staple diet, theincrease in the prevalence and variety of dis-eases, the higher fertility rate, and the moresedentary life-style—required new pharmaco-logical regimes (Brown 1985; Logan and Dixon1994). The incorporation of weedy and spicyspecies, rich in bioactive secondary com-pounds, now thriving right in front of thedoorsteps, led to an expansion of the pharma-copoeias. This scenario is in accordance withBrown’s observation (1985) that agriculturalpeople generally recognize and rely on a greatervariety of wild plants than do hunter-gatherers.

Today, we rely on a narrow range of foods(Diamond 2002; Moerman 1994), which addi-tionally was selected for a narrower and lowerspectrum of phytochemicals. Useful biochemi-cals like vitamins, flavonoids, omega-3 fattyacids, PUFAs, and minerals may fall short inour Westernized urban culinary scheme. There-fore, commercialized vitamins and nutraceuti-cals have been advertised to provide modernhumans with sufficient beneficial cofactors.

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The culinary use of the vast array of wildgathered vegetables and fruits observed in thisand previous studies is part of the (Mediter-ranean) agriculturalists’ traditional knowledgeabout a balanced healthy diet and has become amore and more neglected resource. Throughcomparative analysis, we have identified a num-ber of species that belong to a core group ofwild gathered vegetables with an inter-culturalacceptance. Such species might contribute to amore diverse assortment of vegetables in citymarkets, attract consumers’ attention, andthereby could help to cure non-adaptive foodhabits at its very root.

AcknowledgmentsThe input of all members of the consortium

“Local Food-Nutraceuticals” is gratefully ac-knowledged. We specifically would like tothank Zacharias Kyproitakis (Heraklion) forcontributing some specific ethnobotanical datafrom Greece and Andrea Pieroni (Bradford) forcontributions at an early stage of this project. Acontract with the European Commission underKA1 ‘Food, Nutrition and Health’ (FP5) madethis research possible (QLRT-2001-00173;2002–2004).

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