Traditional Knowledge and Botanical Description of Edible Bitter Plants from Besut, Terengganu, Malaysia

Most elders in Malaysia like to consume ulam as side dishes with rice. The bitter taste of ulam attracts people to give good perception in certain plants and use them for alternative medicine or supplement. Most of them are believebitter plants have good potential in medicinal aspect and contribute great benefits for human which improve their health condition. However, there were plants in Besut which undiscovered for the scientific name and only known in local names. Botanical description is still lack for the edible bitter plants in Besut which consumed by local people. Thus, field visit by botanists may confirm the appropriate name of the plants. While, interview session and personal communication may reveal traditional knowledge from elders before it could be deteriorated. Selection for respondents was done by method of purposive sampling. A number of 50 respondents were interviewed for traditional knowledge about wild edible bitter plants which commonly used by villagers. Botanical descriptions were documented and herbarium specimens were prepared after plants confirmation in field. The keys and iconographies from experts had been referred and details were most helpful. From our research, we identified 17 species from 15 families of the edible bitter plants as alternative medicine by villagers. The botanical description of 17 species were successfully made as an important source for better reference related to edible bitter plants in Besut. Traditional knowledge of elders had been revealed, where it will be useful for research and development of sustainable natural product of edible bitter plants in future