0467353 - ÚVGZ 2017 RIV IN eng J - Journal Article
Rokaya, Maan Bahadur - Sharma, L.
Dioscorea deltoidea in Nepal: Cross Validating Uses and Ethnopharmacological Relevance.
Asian Journal of Ethnopharmacology and Medicinal Foods. Roč. 2, č. 2 (2016), s. 17-26. ISSN 2455-4812
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) LO1415
Institutional support: RVO:67179843
Keywords : food * poisoning * herbarium specimen * identification
Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour

The various species of Dioscorea are well known for their food values and sources of
different kinds of medicine elsewhere in the world including Nepal. Some species are
poisonous with high amount of saponin and inedible in nature but reported as edible
in various studies. Ethnobotanical studies, thus, enable us to collect proper
corresponding information of a specimen in question and confirm the traditional
uses that exist in the world. The present study documents the uses of Dioscorea
deltoidea Wall. ex Griseb. and discusses contrasting information previously reported
by various researchers in Nepal. We collected the data through interviews and key
informant discussion in different localities in Nepal. We also cross-checked the
collected information with previously published literature and herbarium specimens
deposited at National herbarium and plant laboratories (KATH), Godavari and
Tribhuvan University Central herbarium (TUCH), Kirtipur, Nepal. In our study, we
found that D. deltoidea was not used for culinary purpose. It was sometimes used as
fish poison and in the past it was used in washing clothes or as loucisidal or widely
traded. In surveyed literature, the species was used as food, medicine, fish poison and
soap for washing clothes. When cross-checking the deposited herbarium specimens,
31 specimens were found with incorrect taxonomic determination (out of 113
specimens) and we confirmed 27 specimens as D. hamiltonii and four as D. bulbifem.
D. deltoidea. It is concluded that D. deltoidea tubers of the plant were possibly not
used as food because they are rich in saponin, hard, fibrous and allergic. From the
results ofthorough investigation of specimens deposited in two herbaria in Nepal, it
is suggested that the proper taxonomic determination is needed to improve
credibility of ethnobotanical studies in the future.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0265464