| Summary: | Can Past Experiences Serve The Achievements Of Tomorrow. Preliminary survey of native food plant species used for fruits and vegetables by rural populations of Bas-Zaire region in the South Western Zaire reveals the existence of 45 different species not yet cultivated. Detaited analysis of these species shows that they belong to the following families : Zingiberaceae, Verbenaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Moraceae and Sterculiaceae. The native food plant species were collected in forest and savannah, though most of the plants were found in forest area. As for the plant utilization, it was observed that the most consumed plant parts are fruits (49, 0 %), leaves (21, 5 %) and seeds (9, 8 %). Plant morphology of the identified species indicates the presence of trees, shrubs, shrubby trees, liana, annual and perennial grasses. However, the wooden species (68, 7 %>) predominate the herbaceous ones (31, 3 %). Field experiments of surveyed species will be conducted with a view to their possible domestication.
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