Traditional usage of wild edible plants reflecting the dietary habits and the awareness of health care of LI minority in Baoting and Lingshui, Hainan Island, China: An ethnobotanical approach

Traditional usage of wild edible plants reflect the dietary habits as they have potential medicinal functions and the awareness of health care of Li Minority in Hainan Island. To facilitate the use and development of wild edible plants in Hainan Island, information was collected four times by semi-structured interviews in 17 traditional markets of Baoting and Lingshui. Twenty six species belonging to 24 genera under 16 families of vascular plants were recognized as wild edible plants. 84.62% of the total species were annual and perennial herbs. Above ground parts were the most frequently used parts. The most common preparation mode was plain-frying. Heat-clearing was the most common medicinal function. Weather, the size of population and plant diversity in local areas have close relationship with the species richness of wild edible plants traded in traditional markets. Geographical difference and time are not critical for the fluctuation of price. Introduction As the second largest island in China with an area of 34,000 km, Hainan Island is remarkable for its rich biodiversity, which is an important source of edible and medicinal plants specially for native people. Li is the most predominant minority of Hainan and the first settlers of Hainan Island, from Guangdong and Guangxi long before the Qin Dynasty (221 206 B.C.) (Wang 2004). Li mostly lived in rainforest which provided rich sources for food, herbs and firewood, etc. However, Li had to struggle with natural disasters and tropical diseases (Davies and Wismer 2007). Consequently, they mainly relied on plants to get calories, cure diseases and keep healthy. Some plants could be used as food and medicine in daily life. Due to a long time of practice, Li developed rich knowledge of using plants as food and medicine (Gan et al. 2006, Zheng 2010). Ethnobotanical researches on Li in Hainan Island started in the mid-1990s and mainly focused on species diversity and medicinal usage of plants by Li (Huang 1995, Gan et al. 2008, Zheng et al. 2008, Ye et al. 2009, Xing et al. 2012, Zheng et al. 2013a). Recently, studies on a certain kind of medicinal plants were performed. For example, beverage plants by Li were studied (Bai and Li 2010, Qiu et al. 2014) and their health care functions were reported. Medicinal orchids by Li in Bawangling Mountain were investigated (Cun et al. 2014), and medicinal plant resources in the treatment of liver disease used by Li were summarized (Zheng et al. 2013b). Besides, detailed studies of medicinal plants in settlements of Li were performed (Zheng and Xing 2009, Zheng et al. 2013c). Traditional usage of medicinal plants around Limu Mountains and Mt. Yinggeling was documented, and medicinal plant traditions between Li and Hmong around Limu Mountains, and between Run and Qi around Mt. Yinggeling were discussed. However, wild edible plants used by Li have not received enough attention as yet, though they can be used as vegetables and herbal medicines, have potential medicinal functions and keep Li healthy in day to day life (Zheng 2010, Zheng et al. 2013d, Liang et al. 2016). Besides, it is little *Author for correspondence: .