ID Please : Attachments (2). 6 posts by 3 authors.
Id Please It is a Fern, Diplazium sps. , probably Diplazium esculentum. efi page on Diplazium esculentum WE NEPALI CALL IT A NINGRO……….BUT STILL BEING IN THIS SOCIETY WE CANT IDENTIFY THE ACTUAL SPECIES. THE PICTURE WHICH U HAVE UPLOADED IS SIMPLY THE CROIZER OR A VERY YOUNG FROND…………….HARD TO IDENTIFY IT AND U CANT COME TO CONCLUSION THAT IT IS D.esculentum. Another thing the main motive for the identification of the species is for the determination of antioxidant activity or for the food value. Plz be conscious that every plant in this earth has antioxidant activity!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another thing ningro isn’t a vegetable which u get in a field……………….its simply a non timber forest product. I gave considerable detail about edible ferns, mainly Diplazium in “Taxonomic Revision of Three Hundred Indian Subcontinental Pteridophytes with a revised Census List” (2008: 290-312) [Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun]. The name in eastern Nepali is Ningro, not Ningra, but in Western Nepali, from Kathmandu westwards, it is Niuro (from Niureko, bent or curled) – and is widely eaten throughout the area (including by us at home in Kathmandu!) as a very nice Asparagus-like vegetable.
The species represented is not D. esculentum (“Shraunre Ningro”), but very probably D. maximum (“Dhaunte Ningro“), the former “D. polypodioides” of the West Himalaya, which is a much better quality vegetable than D. esculentum, with thicker croziers and a better taste. In Nepal it is chopped up, but personally I like to eat it European style, as for asparagus, by holding the whole crozier at the base and eating down from the tip to the point where the base becomes harder.
The photo doesn’t really show what is needed for a precise identification, though, as one needs to see the scales at the base of the stipe to identify Diplazium species – they are linear in D. maximum, though when prepared in bundles the shop-keepers usually rub most scales off. But I see that there appear to be yellow lines up the side of the stipe – and this gives the possibility that it might otherwise be D. laxifrons. If so then there are very few, and adpressed, ovate scales at the stipe-base. Both are eaten. So, as far as it is possible to go from this photo, it is either D. maximum or D. laxifrons, but is actually not D. esculentum. Yes, I’m glad to agree it is not Timber! My false-teeth certainly aren’t up to that! Diplazium esculentum (Retz.) Sw. ?? ?? |