Erbe spontanee salentine. Guida al riconoscimento e all'uso delle piante alimentari tradizionali

This paper describes an investigation into the Salento aimed at deepening the knowledge on food uses of wild herbs. This study was carried out due the high interest that arouses in the ethnobotany enthusiasts and in the experts and concerned the species used in the past as part of the local tradition, transcribed through interviews with elders and experts. The main difficulty has been to combine the dialect names used by collectors with the binomial scientific after you have correctly determined the species; in fact, for human consumption, you collect the basal rosettes from tender leaves, while the determination can be made only when the plant is in bloom. A photographic guide easy to use was made for determining in the field of edible plants, bringing the photographic comparison of the rosette of leaves to gather for consumption and the plant in the flowering period. After the botanical description are reported the information on the uses for each species, proverbs, idioms and some traditional recipes, proposed with modern taste. The main purpose of the book, published by Grifo publisher, is to contribute to the protection of biodiversity through an rapprochement to local environmental issues. The collection of wild herbs can be a healthy outdoor activities and an important tool of socialization, and a useful message to understand the value of wild vegetables that are an important resource to be preserved.