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An Overview of the Wild Plants Consumed in the Island of Crete, Greece

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Global Perspectives on Underutilized Crops

Abstract

A resurgence of interest has focused on wild edible plants for their nutritional and medicinal values to broaden the diversity of the human diet worldwide. The Cretan diet has been studied extensively, since it is rich in olive oil, fruits (including berries and opuntia ficus), vegetables, pulses, cereals, and greens. This kind of diet has proved to be the main reason of low mortality and cardiovascular disease rates observed in the island. A lot of studies have been conducted on the beneficial influence of Cretan nutrition on human health but limited information exists on the significance of greens and their products in human nutrition. A large number of greens have been found and identified in the island of Crete during the last few decades which grow wild in nature. In this chapter, the classification, composition, and nutritional, pharmaceutical, and therapeutic role of the most famous wild greens from the island of Crete are described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hellenic Agricultural Organization “Demeter”, Institute of Food Technology, Lycovrissi Attikis, Greece

    S. Vekiari & G. Ouzounidou

Authors
  1. S. Vekiari
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  2. G. Ouzounidou
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Correspondence to G. Ouzounidou .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Center for Environmental Studies, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey

    Munir Ozturk

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Khalid Rehman Hakeem

  3. Pakistan Science Foundation, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ashraf

  4. Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Sajid Aqeel Ahmad

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Vekiari, S., Ouzounidou, G. (2018). An Overview of the Wild Plants Consumed in the Island of Crete, Greece. In: Ozturk, M., Hakeem, K., Ashraf, M., Ahmad, M. (eds) Global Perspectives on Underutilized Crops. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77776-4_10

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