Wild Species from the Family Apiaceae, Traditionally Used as Food in Some Mediterranean Countries

Abstract

Mediterranean countries are a cauldron of cultural exchange, with a strong emphasis on wild plants in cuisine traditions. Many of these plants belong to the family Apiaceae. The common climate determines the common range of distribution. While many plants have wide distribution, the range of distribution of others is restricted to Western Mediterranean or North Africa. This review investigates wild plants from the family Apiaceae traditionally used as food in 13 study sites-11 countries in the Mediterranean and adjacent territories-the mainland and 3 islands. The aim is to trace patterns of native distribution versus consumption. As a result, 81 wild umbellifers are listed, traditionally used as food. Their consumption and distribution patterns are described and discussed. Interestingly in 8 of the 13 study sites (61.5%) are recorded 50 plant taxa (66.7% of all wild umbellifers, traditionally used as food) which are consumed in only one particular country. These are as follows: 8 taxa in Morocco, 9 taxa in Spain, 2 taxa in Sicily, 3 taxa in Bulgaria 3 taxa in Crete, 8 taxa in Armenia, 14 taxa in Turkey, and 3 taxa in Jordan. However, these 50 restrictedly consumed plants are distributed in more than one country (except 15 taxa, which are endemics). Many of the plants that are used in certain countries are not consumed by the neighboring people. The results of the two statistical tests, namely Jaccard index and heatmap clustering (double dendrogram), are discussed. The presence of an outlier, such as Bulgaria, which shares borders, history, and culture with Greece and Turkey, emphasizes the importance of local climate for plant distribution and consumption over cultural interactions. The same was observed for some pairs of countries, such as Spain and Morrocco and Turkey and Armenia, although they had the highest number of common plants that are both distributed and consumed as food.

Keywords: Jaccard index; consumed wild umbellifers; distribution; heatmap clustering; similarity.

Figure 1

Study sites. Legend: JO—Jordan and Palestine; IT—Southern Italy: MA—Morocco; Sicily; ES—Spain; SY—Syria; TR—Turkey (Türkiye); AL—Albania; AM—Armenia; BG—Bulgaria; Crete; CY—Cyprus; GR—Greece. Credit https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BlankMap-Europe-v4.png, accessed on 4 July 2024.

Figure 2

Number of wild plants from the family Apiaceae used as food and distributed in each of the study sites.

Figure 3

Percentage of traditionally consumed wild umbellifers of all distributed edible umbellifers in each country.

Figure 4

Number of wild plants from the family Apiaceae with limited use as food and distributed in each of the study sites.

Figure 5

Similarity between pairs of countries in both distribution of edible wild umbellifers and traditional use of wild umbellifers as food, expressed as JI %. The numbers above 65% for the similarity of distribution and above 50% for the similarity of use are marked in bold for convenience.

Figure 6

Heatmap and dendrogram showing clustering of wild-growing Apiaceae plants with similar distribution and eating pattern across the studied countries and clustering of countries with similar distribution and eating pattern of the same plants. The colors used refer to specific patterns as follows: blue—not distributed and not used as food, yellow—distributed, but not used as food, and red—distributed and used as food.