Abstract
The tubers of wild yams (Dioscorea) form an important source of starchy food, which is consumed by the tribal inhabitants living dependent with the forest. Kerala, India, has a rich diversity of Dioscorea with unique properties, contributing to both food and health security needs of the local communities, especially the tribal communities. This chapter describes the diversity of wild Dioscorea that are found in Kerala part of Western Ghats and that are distinguished based on the morpho-taxonomic characters. Wayanad district has about 22 different taxa of Dioscorea, of which 21 are edible and serve as vital food during famine months to forest-dwelling tribes. For classification of wild Dioscorea folk system relies chiefly on the use classes of tubers such as edibility, taste, colour of the flesh, size, direction of growth, fibre content, cooking properties and occasionally its number. A folk taxonomic classification system has been devised by the user communities like Kattunaikka, Muduga and Paniya for the optimum utilization of various Dioscorea taxa.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abraham K, Nair SG (1979) Floral abnormalities in Dioscorea rotundata Poir. J Root Crops 5(1&2):74–76
Amalraj VA et al (1991) Studies on leaf morphology and its usefulness in the taxonomy of South Indian Dioscorea species. J Swami Bot Cl 8(1&2):51–60
Arora RK, Pandey A (1996) Wild edible plants of India, diversity, conservation and use. National Bureau of Plant genetic resources, New Delhi, pp 15–16
Ayensu ES (1965) Notes on the anatomy of the Dioscoreaceae. Ghana J Sci 5(1):19–23
Ayensu ES (1972) The anatomy of the individual and subgenera of the Dioscoreales. In: Metcalfe CR (ed) Anatomy of monocotyledons. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp 79–141
Burkill IH (1924) A list of oriental and vernacular names of the genus Dioscorea. Gdn's Bull 3(4/6):121–244
Burkill IH (1951) Dioscoreaceae. Flora Malesiana Ser 1. 4:293–335
Caddick LR, Rudall PJ, Wilkin P, Hedderson TAJ, Chase MW (2002) Phylogenetics of Dioscorea based on combined analyses of morphological and molecular data. Linnaean Soc Lond Bot J Linnaean Soc 138:123–144
Fischer CEC, Gamble JS (1928) Flora of the Presidency of Madras.. Superintendent, Govt. Printing, Calcutta. III, pp 1507–1513
Jain SK (1964) An indigenous water bottle. Indian For 90(10):109
Jayasurya AHM (1984) Systematic arrangement of the genus Dioscorea (Dioscoreaceae) in Indian Sub-continent, Revised hand book to the Flora of Ceylon IX. Royal Botanic Gardens, KewRichmond
Kavinde HS, Anil Kumar N, Rasheed PA (2001) Wild food management in Wayanad, Kerala. An exploratory study. Community Agrobiodiversity Centre, M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation, Puthoorvayal, Kalpetta, Wayanad
Mabberley DJ (1997) Dioscoreaceae. In: The plant book – a portable dictionary of the Vascular Plants. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 231–232
Nayar MP (1997) Biodiversity challenges in Kerala and Science of Conservation Biology. In: Pushpangadan P, Nair KSS (eds) Biodiversity and tropical forests: the Kerala scenario. STEC, Kerala, pp 7–80
Nizarudeen A, Seeni S, Koshy KC, Pushpangadan P (1996) Folk plants of food, medicine, adornment and repellent used by the Paniyar community in North Kerala. In: Maheshwari JK (ed) Ethnobotany in South Asia. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur
Peter Lister (2001) http://www.uws.edu.au/vip/listerp/ethtax.htm
Prain D, Burkill IH (1936) An account of the Genus Dioscorea in the East. Part I: The species which twines to the left. Superintendent, Govt. Printing, Bengal Govt. Press, Calcutta, pp 1–210
Rajyalakshmi P, Greervani P (1994) Nutritive value of the foods cultivated and consumed by the tribals of South India. Plants Food Hum Nutr 46(1):53–61
Rana RS (1991) Genetic resources of Dioscorea alata L. (Foreword). National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources. Regional Station, Thrissur
Roy B, Halder AC, Pal DC (1988) Plants for human consumption in India. Flora India Ser 4:63–65
Singh, Arora (1978) Native food plants of the Northeastern tribals. In: Jain SK (ed) Glimpses of Indian ethnobotany. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi, pp 91–106
Sundara Raghavan R (1960) Studies on the Genus Dioscorea L. Bull Bot Surv India 2(3&4):379–386
Velayudhan KC, Muralidharan VK, Amalraj VA, Thomas TA (1991) Genetic resources of Dioscorea alata. Scientific monograph no 1, NBPGR Regional Station, Thrissur, pp 1–73
Wilkin P (1998) A morphometric study of Dioscorea quartiniana A. Rich. (Dioscoreaceae). Paper accepted for publication August 1998. Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Balakrishnan, V., Kumar, N.A. (2017). Sustainable Use of Wild Yams (Dioscorea) by Tribal Communities in Kerala, India. In: Laladhas, K., Nilayangode, P., V. Oommen, O. (eds) Biodiversity for Sustainable Development. Environmental Challenges and Solutions, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42162-9_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42162-9_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42161-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42162-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)