Wild food plants of Qakh district of Azerbaijan, the Southeastern Caucasus: diversity and distribution pattern along an elevation gradient | Wild Food Plants of Qakh

Environment can not exist without plants. Historically, plants have often been selected for different uses, as medicinal, food, ornamental and others. Plants are one of the main sources of food for life. Much of the food plants exist in nature as wild. Currently the depletion of natural resources is observed around the world. Considering these, it is important to study their location, resources and knowledge of their traditional use. Qakh is a historical district of the Azerbaijan, located in the north-west part of the country and on the south macroslope of the western part of the Great Caucasus. The region is one of the least studied areas of the country in terms of plant diversity. The checklist of wild food plants of the region has not been prepared, although the useful plants have been studied by a number of scientists. Generally, 323 wild food plants (vascular) were recorded in the region across 72 families and 211 genera, with by far the largest family being Asteraceae (35 plant species), followed by Rosaceae, Apiaceae, Fabaceae, Brassicaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae and Polygonaceae. Total number of species include 29 tree species, 18 shrubs, 2 subshrubs, 1 climber, 69 annual, 27 biennial and 177 perennial herbs. It was recorded one endemic species of Azerbaijan (Rubus buschii Grossh. ex Sinkova), 35 endemics of Caucasus, and 25 species listed in the Red Book of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Most of the food plants are distributed in the northern and northeas-tern parts of the study area (263 species). The southern part has less numbers (55 species) than middle part (147 species) of the region. Besides, 52 species are found all over the area. In general, the high plant species richness in the area is found in lower and middle mountain zone between 600 m and 1700 m. Cluster analysis based on presence/absence of food plants of the area along an altitudinal gradient determinate two main cluster groups, where the first group consists of plants of the alpine zone and the second group combines the other zones.