Survey on the wild edible fruits in the selected barangays of Burgos, Ilocos Sur

The survey confirms the presence of wild edible fruits in the selected barangays of Burgos, Ilocos Sur in the Philippines comprising of 45 fruit species classified into 39 genera and 25 families. From the identified species, 40 are utilized as snacks, four as spice, one for medicinal use, two as condiment, 30 are forage food, and three for industrial uses. Twenty-two (22) species are categorized of least concerned (LC) and two (2) of which are considered vulnerable (VU) under the IUCN Red List. Uvaria rufa which is commonly consumed as snack and regarded as famine food is the most culturally significant fruit (CI = 1.59) while Lantana camara, Sterculia foetida, Brucea javanica, Garcinia dulcis, Ficus septica, Artocarpus camansi, Causonis trifolia, Semecarpus cuneiformis, Ceiba pentandra, and Tinospora glabra were found to have the lowest computed CI value of 0.01. Annonaceae (CIf = 1.78) was found to be of highest cultural significance followed by Myrtaceae (CIf = 1.38) and Sapotaceae (CIf = 0.50) among the twenty-five families studied.