Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.33128/k.60.2.4
TRADITIONAL WILD GROWING AND CULTIVATED PLANTS USED IN THE TOWN OF VARAŽDIN (CROATIA)
Ivana Vitasović-Kosić
orcid.org/0000-0001-9372-5892
; Agronomski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Mija Kužir
; studentica Agronomski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Due to the depopulation and lifestyle changes in rural areas, as well as insufficient documentation, there is a great danger of traditional ecology knowledge loss of wild growing and cultivated taxa usage. Ethnobotany investigations in Croatia started about ten years ago, until then there were no documented data on folk knowlegde, but the folk knowledge has mainly been passed from generation to generation, by word of mouth. The paper presents research results on traditional use of wild growing and cultivated plants in the area of Varaždin. This ethnobotanical research was conducted by interviewing local people during 2016 and represents the first written documentation of traditional plant use in this area. A total of 125 plant taxa (69 cultivated and 56 wild growing plants) were recorded, with an average of 26 taxa per interview, used as; food for humans and animal feed, for medical purposes, and for other economic purposes. There are 43 families, most
representative of which are Rosaceae (20.63%) and Asteraceae (6.35%). The most commonly mentioned cultivated species are; Prunus domestica, Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera, Chamomilla recutita, Sambucus nigra and Tilia platyphyllos. As food for humans and animal feed, most commonly referred to are: Zea mays, Cucurbita maxima, Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum, Fagopyrum esculentum and Urtica dioica. The characteristic of local gastronomy is the preparation of buckwheat mash which local people call “hajdina”, and the interesting “new-fashion” is the use of Allium ursinum as a supplement to salads or vegetable spreads, and frying of Robinia pseudoacacia blooms. We believe that this research will contribute to educating the population and reintroducing the forgotten use of wild growing and cultivated plants in human and animal nutrition as well as the prevention of human and animal discases. The collected plant taxa are herbarized, digitized and stored in the herbarium of the Faculty of Agronomy available online (http://herbarium.agr.hr/).
Keywords
traditional plant use; edible plants; animal feed; folk medicine
Hrčak ID:
220220
URI
Publication date:
2.5.2019.
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