Exploring the benefits of invasive alien plant species as food sources: Mapping their socio-ecological impacts in Zimbabwe
Résumé
Alien invasive plant species that invade natural habitats end up altering the ecosystem services and the socio-economic conditions. The current study, conducted in Zimbabwe, focused on assessing the food values of herbaceous invasive alien plant species. An extensive literature review resulted in identification of 21 herbaceous invasive alien plant species that are used as food plants in Zimbabwe. This comparative analysis of historical accounts of use from 1955 and subsequent publications revealed subtle changes in food, culinary and medicinal uses, as well as other socio-ecological aspects associated with the species. The most popular use category of edible, herbaceous invasive alien plant species in Zimbabwe are the leaves, followed by the fruits and underground storage organs. Documented species belong to 13 genera and 7 families, with more than three quarters of the species (18 species = 85.7%) being members of the Amaranthaceae family with six species, followed Brassicaceae (five species), Solanaceae (four species) and Asteraceae (three species). About half of the species (13 species = 61.9%) are native to the Americas with the Asian region contributing seven species (33.3%), Europe (five species = 23.8%) and Africa (four = 19.0%). The region with the highest number of edible herbaceous invasive alien species in Zimbabwe is Eastern (18 species = 85.7%), followed by Central (16 species = 76.2%), Western (13 species = 61.9%), Northern and Southern with 11 species each (52.4%). Therefore, this data on edible, herbaceous invasive alien plant species in Zimbabwe contribute to the global efforts of trying to understand plant invasions as their spread and socio-ecological impacts are exacerbated by the globalization of the world economies.
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