Ethnobotanical study on wild edible plants in the countryside of Fangshan District, Beijing

Wild edible plants (WEPs) contribute to dietary resilience, seasonal food practices, and biocultural continuity, yet traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in peri-urban landscapes is often treated as a residual tradition destined to disappear under metropolitan expansion. We tested the hypothesis that WEP knowledge in Fangshan District, Beijing, has not simply declined under urbanization but has been spatially redistributed and functionally transformed, with stronger persistence in less accessible mountainous settlements and weaker intergenerational transmission among younger and more formally educated residents. From April to November 2025, we conducted ethnobotanical fieldwork across 19 townships and 40 villages in Fangshan District, Beijing. Semi-structured interviews, key-informant interviews, participatory observation, voucher collection, and quantitative RFC analysis were used to document WEP diversity, local names, preparation methods, perceptions, and socio-demographic patterns of knowledge transmission. We documented 94 WEPs belonging to 46 families and 86 genera, with Asteraceae and Rosaceae most represented. Uses included vegetables, fruits, famine or staple-food substitutes, tea substitutes, spices, wine-making plants, nuts, oils, medicines, fodder, and materials. Interview data indicated that WEP knowledge was unevenly distributed across settlements. Participants and field observations suggested richer and more detailed plant-use repertoires in mountainous, less accessible villages than in highly urbanized settlements. The sample was concentrated among middle-aged and older residents, and informants frequently described limited transmission of plant-use knowledge to younger generations. The Fangshan case shows that urbanization does not automatically erase WEP-related TEK; rather, it reshapes it from subsistence-oriented practice toward seasonal food memory, health-oriented consumption, local identity, and marketable mountain products. At the same time, aging knowledge holders, habitat fragmentation, rural hollowing-out, and reduced everyday contact with wild habitats create serious risks. We argue that community-centre initiatives, safe-processing education, habitat stewardship, and intergenerational documentation are needed to support food sovereignty, environmental resilience, and more-than-human health in peri-urban Beijing.