In the parkland agroforestry system of northern Uganda, smallholder farming households rely on a diversity of plant species to fulfil their nutritional requirements, many of which also serve a range of medicinal, cultural, and livelihood functions. The purpose of the study was to assemble an inventory of indigenous plant species used as food in four districts within the Aswa River catchment of northern Uganda, and to document their utilization and management by rural communities. From July 1999 to August 2000, a series of 61 community-based focus group discussions on the utilization of plant biodiversity were conducted in the vernacular language at 34 sites in four districts of northern Uganda, with participation by key informants self-selected on basis of their technical knowledge and personal interest. Of these, 232 respondents subsequently contributed to a collection of herbarium specimens, which were submitted to the Makerere University Herbarium for identification. On receipt of each specimen collected, a structured interview was conducted to document the botanical, ecological, seasonal, and alimentary attributes of each identified taxon, and details of its processing and utilization by the community from which it was obtained. The data analysis was undertaken during 2019 and 2020, including statistical tests to assess the relative importance of the cited taxa using the Relative Importance Index (RI), and to determine the similarity of edible plant use between the four cultures using the Jaccard Index of similarity (JI). Key informant interviews yielded 1347 use reports (URs) for 360 identified specimens of 88 indigenous edible plant species. The data describes patterns of use of indigenous edible plants of four cultures of the Aswa River catchment of northern Uganda. RI scores ranged from 0.93 to 0.11, with fruit trees occupying the top 25 taxa (RI 0.45 and above). Jaccard similarity scores ranged from 25.8% between Lango and Acholi, to 15.8% between Acholi and Ethur, indicating that cultural factors appear to be more significant than shared ancestry as determinants of cultural similarity of plant use. The data constitute an inventory of on-farm plant species, including cultivated, semi-cultivated, and wild plants, integrated into a parkland agroforestry system in which useful trees and other plant species are sustained and managed under cultivation. Agricultural and on-farm plant biodiversity may be seen as a food security resource, and a nutritional buffer against increasing risks and stressors on low-input smallholder agriculture. Further studies should assess the intra-species biodiversity of these resources, with respect to farmer-valued traits and vernacular (folk) classification systems.

中文翻译：

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乌干达北部阿斯瓦河上游流域的传统食用植物——文化十字路口

在乌干达北部的绿地农林业系统中，小农户依靠多种植物物种来满足其营养需求，其中许多还具有一系列药用、文化和生计功能。该研究的目的是收集乌干达北部阿斯瓦河流域内四个地区用作食物的本地植物物种清单，并记录农村社区对它们的利用和管理。1999 年 7 月至 2000 年 8 月，在乌干达北部 4 个地区的 34 个地点用当地语言进行了 61 个以社区为基础的关于植物生物多样性利用的焦点小组讨论，主要知情人根据他们的技术知识和个人兴趣。这些，232 名受访者随后参与收集了植物标本馆标本，并将其提交给马克雷雷大学植物标本馆进行鉴定。在收到收集的每个标本后，进行了结构化访谈，以记录每个已识别分类群的植物、生态、季节性和营养特性，以及获取该类群的社区对其加工和利用的详细信息。数据分析是在 2019 年和 2020 年期间进行的，包括使用相对重要性指数 (RI) 评估引用分类群的相对重要性的统计测试，并使用 Jaccard 相似性指数确定四种文化之间食用植物使用的相似性(JI)。关键知情人访谈产生了 1347 份使用报告 (UR)，涉及 88 种本地食用植物物种的 360 个已识别标本。数据描述了乌干达北部阿斯瓦河集水区四种文化的本土食用植物的使用模式。RI 分数范围从 0.93 到 0.11，果树占据前 25 个分类群（RI 0.45 及以上）。Jaccard 相似度得分范围从 Lango 和 Acholi 之间的 25.8% 到 Acholi 和 Ethur 之间的 15.8%，表明文化因素似乎比共同祖先更重要，作为植物使用的文化相似性的决定因素。这些数据构成了农场植物物种清单，包括栽培、半栽培和野生植物，它们被整合到一个园地农林业系统中，在该系统中，有用的树木和其他植物物种在栽培中得到维持和管理。农业和农场植物生物多样性可被视为粮食安全资源，以及针对低投入小农农业日益增加的风险和压力的营养缓冲。进一步的研究应评估这些资源的物种内生物多样性，包括农民重视的特征和乡土（民间）分类系统。