A comprehensive checklist of Mediterranean wild edible plants: Diversity, traditional uses, and knowledge gaps

Societal Impact Statement: The use of wild edible plants and the traditional knowledge associated with them is rapidly disappearing across the Mediterranean, with serious consequences for biodiversity, cultural heritage, and regional food security. This study compiles and organizes fragmented information to create the first comprehensive catalogue of these plants across the region. By revealing the richness and diversity of Mediterranean wild foods, it highlights both shared traditions and local specificities. The findings provide a valuable resource to support conservation efforts, promote sustainable harvesting, and help communities reconnect with traditional practices by integrating wild plants into modern diets and agricultural systems. Summary: Wild Edible Plants (WEPs) are crucial to traditional Mediterranean food systems, yet their diversity and local uses remain underdocumented and poorly understood. Societal shifts have led to a decline in WEPs consumption, together with a rapid erosion of the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) associated with their use. Moreover, climate change is increasingly posing challenges to their survival and the integrity of their habitats. In this study, we present a comprehensive catalogue of Mediterranean WEPs, integrating international datasets and an extensive literature review. The resulting checklist includes accepted names for 2.716 taxa, related geographic and detailed ethnobotanical information on their food uses across Mediterranean countries, revealing that 45% are absent from global edible plant databases. Notably, 48% have documented medicinal uses, highlighting their nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical value. The richest families are Asteraceae (481 taxa), Lamiaceae (282), Fabaceae (226), and Apiaceae (184), with key genera including Allium (80), Vicia (53), Thymus (49), and Salvia (39). The most widely used and multifunctional species—Foeniculum vulgare, Taraxacum spp., Urtica dioica, and Portulaca oleracea—are also the most frequently cited. In terms of life forms, hemicryptophytes (37.1%) dominate, followed by therophytes (23.8%) and phanerophytes (15.6%). Most frequently used plant parts are leaves (1127), and most prevalent food preparations fall under the “savoury preparations” category, particularly within the “vegetable dishes” and “egg dishes” subcategories, as defined by the Economic Botany Data Collection Standard (EBDCS). By enhancing data accessibility, we aim to empower local communities and relevant stakeholders to actively contribute to the preservation of WEPs and related TEK, thereby untapping the potential of these underutilized resources to support the development of more diverse, resilient, and sustainable food systems.