depend to the wild edible plants for their socio-economic purposes.

information on the wild edible plants of Manipur from well-known sources categorizing them into: Wild edible:

fruits; medicine; stem, tuber and rhizome; spices and vegetables (Singh and Arora 1978).

complete. In this paper 15 species were found under the fruit category; 15 species of wild edible plants wer e

under medicinal plants. In spices, there were 9 species, in vegetable 14 species there are. Not only were these

other 10 species found under the category for both rhizome and tuber eatable wild species.

ecosystem. Most of the species which are contributing to the biodiversity of North-East India are found in the

state of Manipur. Manipur lies in the Northern part of the India sub-continent. The major portion of the state

consists of hilly areas, and the districts of the valley are mainly Imphal-East, Imphal-West, Bishnupur, Thoubal,

Kakching and Jiribam. Most of the people in the valley areas purely depend on the wild edible plants for their

food shelter, vegetables, medicines and socio-economic purposes. The present study shall be focused on the wild

edible plants which are found in the five valley districts of Manipur viz, Imphal-East, Imphal-West, Bishnupur,

in India (Singh and Arora, 1978). Out of 800 species, about 300 plants species occurred in the North-Eastern

region (Kanjilal, 1934-40, 1934, 1936; Singh and Arora 1978; Jain and Rao 1977, Watt 1971). Various articles

(Deb 1961a, Elangbam, 2002 ) were published and give details about the edible wild plants in different countries

specific areas.

Study sites were from the five valley districts of Manipur (Figure 1 & 2). The materials of this review were from

the published documents. The authors find out some information on the wild edible plants of Manipur from

wellknown sources categorizing them into: Wild edible: fruits; medicine; stem, tuber and rhizome; spices and

vegetables (Singh and Arora 1978, Cooke, 1958, Majumdari et al., 2006).

Data on WEPs such as scientific names local names family, parts use and mode of consumption were gathered

plants (Watt, 1971) but the main source of further information lies scattered in various regional floristic works

(Duthie, 1960, Cooke, 1958; Gamble 1957; Kanjilal et al., 1934-40) which deal with the flora of India besides

using all the information notes wherever possible, from our own experience are also appended (Singh and Arora,

1978, Devi et al.,2013).

Figure 1. Map of Indian continent showing the location of Manipur state

Figure 2. Map of Manipur state showing the study areas of five valley districts.

income for many resources in poor communities, and the source of species for domestication. Most of these

fruits have medicinal properties including antioxidants effects. In India, most of the tribal people live in the

vicinity of forests and till rely on wild plants to sustain their livelihood (Battacharryya, 1963).

Table 1 List of Edible Wild Fruits of Manipur:

India is one of the 33 hotpots of the world and rich reservoir of large number of economically important fruits,

vegetables, flowering trees and medicinal and aromatic plants (Watt, 1971; Anonymous, 2011). Many wild plants

harvested for the uses of ethno-medicine in treating of various ointments in indigenous parts of the rural divisions

of the country. Most of the ethnic communities depend on forest resources for this survival purpose (Gamble,

1957, Duthie, 1960 ).

A study conducted in Zimbabwe revealed that some poor households rely on wild fruits as an alternative to

(Singh et al., 1998, 2001). Amarathus viridis L. (Chengkruk) - The plant possesses antiproliferative and

antifungal lectin properties (Sundriyal et al., 2004), Alpinia nigra (Pullei) – It is used as a folk medicine for the

treatment of aphrodisiac, tonic, diuretic, expectorant, appetizer and analgesic (Das & Dutta, 2010; Singh and

Singh, 1985; Maheshwari and Singh, 1965).

Table 2 List of the wild edible medicinal plants: