Wild edible plants are vital resources for human dietary diversity and health, as well as key components of traditional ethnic cultures. For a long time, the mechanisms by which humans selectively choose edible plant species from nature’s vast flora, and the driving forces behind such preferences, have remained central questions in ethnobotanical research. The Hengduan Mountains region in northwest Yunnan, a global biodiversity hotspot, has been home to multiple ethnic groups including Tibetans and Naxi. Despite sharing similar natural environments, the two groups have developed distinct traditions of using wild plants, offering an ideal setting to test the non-random plant selection theory and explore the combined roles of ecology and culture.
A research team from the HPRD Lab at Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (KIB/CAS), in collaboration with international partners, conducted a systematic study on wild edible plants traditionally used by Tibetan and Naxi communities in northwest Yunnan. The findings were published in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-025-00 816-x). Based on a regional flora of 7,365 wild plant species, the team presented 418 traditionally used edible species (94 families, 226 genera) by using secondary data. Using negative binomial models, Poisson models, and Bayesian analyses, the team performed quantitative tests at the family, genus, and species levels to compare similarities and differences in plant selection among Tibetan and Naxi people and clarify the drivers of preference.
The results confirm that selection of wild edible plants by both Tibetans and Naxi significantly deviates from random choice, strongly supporting the non-random selection theory. The two groups share preferences for 6 families, 16 genera, and 17 species, reflecting common nutritional needs and long-term cultural exchanges. Meanwhile, clear differences exist: Tibetans favor high-elevation plant taxa with multiple uses (food, forage, cultural), while the Naxi prefer plants aligned with their “food as medicine” tradition and health-promoting functions. This study demonstrate that ecological and cultural traits equally shape patterns of plant use, collectively determining ethnic preferences for wild edible plants.
This research provides critical empirical evidence for core ethnobotanical theories from a mountainous ethnic context in East Asia. It also supports the sustainable use of wild edible plant resources, the development of food-medicine species, the preservation of traditional knowledge, and the conservation of biocultural diversity in northwest Yunnan, further enhancing China’s global standing in ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology.