Study on Some Leafy Vegetables and their Medicinal Uses at Chanchal Sub-Division of Malda District, West Bengal

Abstract

Wild leafy vegetables are consumed by general people in both form of crude extract and recipe in a regular fashion since century long. Ethnic communities have immense knowledge on the medicinal and nutritional values of these vegetables. These vegetables are earning source of socio- economic backward rural people. People buy these vegetables from market or collect directly from natural habitat. An investigation was carried out for documentation of wild leafy vegetables at Chanchal of Malda district, West Bengal. Thirty two species of such vegetables belong to twenty nine families of twenty eight genera had been documented through this investigation carried in and around of study area exploring their huge nutritional and medicinal importance. Majority of wild leafy vegetables (53%) are used for curing of several ailments in study area.