Fruits are the nature’s gift to mankind, they are not only delicious and refreshing, but also nutritionally rich and supplementing the daily diet of the people. This paper reviews the ethnobotanical knowledge on wild edible fruits traditionally used by the tribal and rural peoples of the Western Ghats, India. There are 237 wild fruiting plants belonging to 136 genera, comes under 65 families used by tribal community for edible purpose, which includes 37 endemic and 11 red listed plants. Among 237 species majority were trees (107), followed by shrubs (75), climbers (42) and herbs (13). The highest numbers of species in the families are Malvaceae, Myrtaceae, Phyllanthaceae, Moraceae, Rutaceae etc. The wild edible plants are integral part of food sources of the tribals and rural peoples and are considered as the oldest food stuff of peoples and provide primary dietary constituents of their daily life. Moreover, it plays a vital role in combating food security also. Most of the wild edible plants have additional usages, some of them have medicinal properties while some others having anti-nutritional factors and are poisonous too. The uses of wild edibles are now mainly confined to tribal or allied community. Scientific research on suitable species is suggested to identify the competent species to replace/improve/substitute the common cultivated species in chemical constitutent, nutritional value and also to explore the possibilities of wild edible plants to provide food security for the growing population.

水果是大自然送给人类的礼物，不仅美味可口，而且营养丰富，可以补充人们的日常饮食。本文回顾了印度西高止山脉的部落和农村人民传统上使用的野生食用水果的民族植物学知识。有136个属的野生果树植物237种，属于部落社区用于食用目的的65个科，其中包括37种特有植物和11种列入红色名录的植物。在237种物种中，多数是树木（107），其次是灌木（75），登山者（42）和草药（13）。家族中种类最多的是锦葵科，桃金娘科，菊科，桑科，芸香科等。野生食用植物是部落和农村人民食物来源的组成部分，被认为是最古老的食物，并提供主要的饮食他们日常生活的组成部分。此外，它在打击粮食安全方面也起着至关重要的作用。大多数野生食用植物都有其他用途，其中一些具有药用特性，而另一些则具有抗营养因子，并且也有毒。目前，野生食用食品的用途主要限于部落或联盟社区。建议对适合的物种进行科学研究，以鉴定能替代/改善/替代化学成分中常见栽培物种的合格物种，