Notes on Economic Plants Comfrey and Buttercup Eaters: Wild of the Region in Western , Caucasus

,1 2 2 ŁUKASZ ŁUCZAJ* ,BORIS TVALODZE , AND DAVID ZALKALIANI

1Department of Botany, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Rzeszów, Werynia 502, 36-100, Kolbuszowa, Poland 2Kutaisi Botanic Garden, #2 St., 4600, , Georgia *Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected]

Introduction the main form of consumption of wild greens in the area and is served as a side dish. The term mkhali, The use of wild greens is an important issue in the literary version, is often used as well, while gastronomic ethnobotany as in some parts of the pkhali is its synonym in the local dialects of Imereti, world, wild greens have been widely used to supple- , and Racha (Lomtatidze et al. 1962). As a ment human nutrition (Bharucha and Pretty 2010; large number of species are used in the dish, some of Cruz-Garcia and Struik 2015;Johns1990; Leonti them of little known edibility, it is of scientific and 2012; Serrasolses et al. 2016;Turneretal.2011). economic importance to document the plants used. One of the places where the use of wild vegetables has been sparsely documented until recently, in Study Site spite of the incredible richness of their use, is the area of the Caucasus. Some uses of wild vegetables Imereti is a historical region of western Geor- in this area are recorded by older Russian and gia located on the Colchic Plain, sandwiched Georgian sources (see for example Grossgejm between the Great and Moun- 1952; Javakhishvili 1986) and a few general ethno- tains. The climate is transitional between humid botanical studies were made recently (Bussmann subtropical and warm temperate, with high rain- et al. 2014, 2016a, b, 2017a, b; Hovsepyan et al. fall throughout the year. Imereti is a plain with 2016), whereas Kaliszewska and Kołodziejska- some low mountains surrounding it. The cli- Degórska (2015) studied the use of wild vegetables mate is transitional between humid subtropical in Dagestan (North Caucasus, Russian Federation). and warm temperate, with high rainfall through- However, no such studies have been conducted in out the year (Kordzakhia 1971). The mean Au- the Imereti region. We document the use of all the gust temperature is 29 °C (the hottest month), and wild greens, which are predominantly used in a in January, it is 8 °C. In this climate, some wild dish called —which according one of the vegetables may be collected virtually all year, as a Georgian transliteration rules (Romanization clear drought period is not apparent. The native system for Georgian link 2017) is written pkhali vegetation is composed of deciduous forests, and (though in some texts it is also written pxali, the dominant trees are Quercus robur spp. imeretina phkhali, phali, or pchali). This dish is of great im- (Steven ex Woronow) Menitsky, Zelkova portance in the culinary tradition of Georgia, especial- carpinifolia (Pall.) K. Koch, Carpinus betulus L., ly its western part, and is eaten almost on a daily basis. Castanea sativa L., Alnus glutinosa ssp. barbata Pkhali is also made with cultivated vegetables such as (C.A.Mey.) Yalt, Corylus avellana L., Acer cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.), (Beta vulgaris cappadocicum Gled., Fagus orientalis Lipsky, Ulmus L.), or spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.), but the con- glabra Huds., Buxus colchica Pojark., and Prunus sumption of pkhali made of wild vegetables, so laurocerasus L. Large tracts of the Caucasian foothills called veluri pkhali (wild pkhali) or mindvris pkhali are managed as wood pastures with freely roaming (field pkhali), is equally common. Pkhali constitutes cattle and pigs, and many species of fruit trees are

Economic Botany, 71(2), 2017, pp. 188–193 © The Author(s) 2017. This article is an open access publication 2017] NOTES 189 interspersed between deciduous copses and pastures in Georgia. It has two large markets. (Nakhutsrishvili 2012; Otte et al. 2011; Zazanashvili The one in the center of the city is a retail et al. 2000). The area is relatively densely populated. market including wild vegetables, while the The local farmers plant a variety of annual crops, wholesale market is located outside the city cen- mainly maize, and there are multi-species orchards terandhostslesswildvegetables.Singlewild around each house. vegetable stalls may also be encountered in KutaisiisthelargesttowninImereti(196,000 smaller towns, at least occasionally, particularly inhabitants) and the third most populated town in and Choni.

TABLE 1. SPECIES OF WILD PLANTS USED IN THE DISH KNOWN AS PKHALI 190 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 71

TABLE 1. (CONTINUED)

Methods March and June 2016. The informants were usually accompanied by their extended families who We carried out 41 single and group interviews commented on the information and supplied spec- among knowledgeable informants (40 women, 13 imens. The informants supplied data about wild men), selected mainly through contacts with village vegetable use in the following towns and villages: leaders and by the snowball technique between Bagdati, Banoja, Cholebi, Geguti, Gelati, Gumbra, 2017] NOTES 191

TABLE 1. (CONTINUED)

For most species, young leaves and shoots are used, unless marked by a letter aFlower buds bFlowers and very young leaf buds

Khoni, Kumistavi, Kutaisi, Maglaki, Meskheti, Results Mukhiani, Opshkviti, Partskhanakanevi, Rioni, Sakhulia, Samtredia, Simoneti, Sormoni, Tkibuli/ On average, respondents mentioned 10.4 spe- Hresili, , Vartsikhe, Zarati, and Zubi. The age cies of wild greens per interview (compared to of respondents ranged from 42 to 85 (mean 65, 6.9 species of fruits and 6.3 species of fungi). median 66 years). In the interviews, we asked which Altogether, 53 species of wild green vegetables wild plants were added to the pkhali dish. We also were documented (Table 1). Vegetables for pkhali asked interviewees to list other leaves, fruits, roots, are boiled for 10 to 30 min, then strained and or mushrooms used for food or herbal drinks in minced or finely chopped. They are added to order to see wild vegetables in the context of all wild crushed or minced walnuts and spiced with vinegar, food. However, for this paper, we only list the dill (Anethum graveolens L.), coriander (Coriandrum numbers of species listed in other food categories sativum L.), pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium L.), cel- without specifying the species. Voucher specimens ery (Apium graveolens L.), and parsley (Petroselinum were deposited in the herbarium of the Faculty of crispsum (Mill.) (Fuss). Some more abundant wild Biology, University of Warsaw in Poland (WA). vegetables are made as single-species dishes, but The International Society of Ethnobiology Code most species are used in a mix, and there is no of Ethics (2006) was followed (see website link). general rule as to which species are served single 192 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 71 and which separately. A form of pkhali is also made credit to the original author(s) and the source, pro- without walnuts, in which the green mass is spiced vide a link to the Creative Commons license, and by tkemali, a sauce made of green cherry plums indicate if changes were made. (Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. s.l.) and spiced with similar herbs as the classic walnut pkhali. Mixed plants for pkhali are commonly sold in Kutaisi in the main Literature Cited city market, where 5 to 15 sellers may be encoun- Aslam, M.S. and A.S. Ijaz. 2012. The genus Ranun- tered every day from the beginning of the year until culus: A phytochemical and ethnopharmacological late April, with a few still selling the plants until review. International Journal of Pharmacy and June. Pharmaceutical Science 4(5):15–22. Bharucha, Z. and J. Pretty. 2010. The roles and Discussion values of wild foods in agricultural systems. Phil- ological Transactions of the Royal Society B We recorded five species which are not listed in 365:2913–2926. inventories of wild edible plants (e.g., Hedrick Bussmann, R., Paniagua Zambrana, N.Y., 1919; Tanaka 1976; Kunkel 1984; Plants for a Sikharulidze, S., Kikvidze, Z., Kikodze, D., Future 2017), nor are they listed in any ethnobo- Jinjikhadze, T., Shanshiashvili, T., Chelidze, tanical literature concerning wild foods. These are D., Batsatsashvili, K., and N. Bakanidze. Ranunculus chius DC, Ranunculus georgicus Kem.- 2014. Wine, beer, snuff, medicine, and loss of Nath., Symphytum grandiflorum DC, Geranium diversity-Ethnobotanical travels in the Geor- columbinum L., and Geranium rotundifolium L. It gian Caucasus. Ethnobotany Research and Ap- must be emphasized that the way wild vegetables are plications 12:237–313. consumed in Georgia, i.e., with crushed walnuts, is ———, ———, ———, ———, ———, very unique to this country. It is interesting that Tchelidze, D., Khutsishvili, M., Batsatsashvili, many toxic wild vegetables, such as buttercups Ra- K., and R.E. Hart. 2016a. A comparative ethno- nunculus spp. and comfrey S. grandiflorum, are used botany of Khevsureti, Samtskhe-Javakheti, and sold in the market of Kutaisi. Raw buttercups Tusheti, Svaneti, and Racha-Lechkhumi, Re- contain protoanemonin, (Aslam and Ijaz 2012) public of Georgia (Sakartvelo), Caucasus. Jour- which is very pungent, and Symphytum species con- nal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 12:43. tain pyrrholizidine (PA) alkaloids (e.g., Rode 2002; ———, 2016b. Medicinal and food plants of Roitman 1981). Prolonged cooking probably Svaneti and Lechkhumi, Sakartvelo (Republic removes most of these toxins, but there is a lack of of Georgia), Caucasus. Medicinal & Aromatic studies focused specifically on the alimentary use of Plants 5:266. comfrey after longer cooking. ———, 2017a. Ethnobotany of Samtskhe- Javakheti, Sakartvelo (Republic of Georgia), Cau- Acknowledgments casus. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 16(1):7–24. We are very grateful to Mr. Merab Ikoshvili for ——— 2017b. Plant and fungal use in Tusheti, his translating services for the first author, to Ms. Khevsureti, and Pshavi, Sakartvelo (Republic of Tsisana Mskhvilidze for contributing her unpub- Georgia), Caucasus. Acta Societatis lished data on plant use in Kutaisi area as one of our Botanicorum Poloniae 86(2):3517. interviewees, and to all other participants. Cruz-Garcia, G.S. and P.C. Struik. 2015. Spatial and seasonal diversity of wild food plants in Compliance with Ethical Standards home gardens of Northeast Thailand. Economic The International Society of Ethnobiology Code Botany 69(2):99–113. of Ethics (2006) was followed (see website link). Grossgejm, A.A. 1952. Rastitelnyje bogatstva Kavkaza. Moskva: Moskovskoe Obshchestvo Open Access This article is distributed under the Ispytatelej Prirody. terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Hedrick, U.P. (Ed.). 1919 (reprinted 1972). International License (http:// Sturtevant’s Edible Plants of the World. New creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which per- York: Dover Publications. mits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduc- Hovsepyan, R., Stepanyan-Gandilyan, N., tion in any medium, provided you give appropriate Melkumyan, H., and L. Harutyunyan. 2016. 2017] NOTES 193

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