TheEthnobotany of Poland has been the subject of severalethnobotanical surveys since the 19th century studying the role of wild plants in Polish folk culture and contemporary rural communities.[1] The first seminary on ethnobotany in Poland was held inKolbuszowa in 1980 about the role of plants in Polish folk culture and other countries were discussed too.[2]
Poland has been described as anaherbous orherbophobous nation due to greens mostly being consumed only when other foods were unavailable. Moszyński attributed this to good farming conditions in a mostly agrarian culture with limited use forwild plants. According to Moszyński, local populations in Poland were familiar with only a fewtaxa likeUrtica andChenopodium.[3]
The earliest known ethnobotanical survey about Poland was conducted byJózef Rostafiński, who investigated all aspects of ethnobotany including medical, culinary anddyemaking. He asked participants about green vegetables (Zieleniny): "Do local people gather herbs in spring to use in soups, particularly in famine years, and these herbs are?" The responses he received includedUrtica (pokrzywa żegawka),Glechoma (Bluszczyk kurdybanek),Rumex (szczaw),Heracleum, andAegopodium podagraria.
Green vegetables from around 58taxa (43genera) appear but half are only used when food is scarce.Sorrel is among the most common, with data from 1948 describing the preservation of leaves for the winter.Chenopodium andAtriplex species were eaten fried,blanched or boiled, mixed withpotatoes ordairy. The perception of survey respondents was generally that it was a wartime food or mostly eaten by the poor, and its consumption is rare in modern times.