Forgotten edible heritage: the case study of the UNESCO Site of Akbarieh Garden in Iran

ABSTRACT Persian gardens have been an essential component of Iranian urban and architectural history for almost 2500 years. Persian gardens continued to provide provisioning services (i.e. food production) until the twentieth century when their status and role switched from productive to ornamental gardens. In this study, we conducted interviews and field surveys in a Persian garden in eastern Iran to understand how the use of edible plants has changed since the end of the 1970s. Although the production function is not the primary role of this garden, the results demonstrate that numerous edible species have been reintroduced. In addition, the marketing and branding of the fruits cultivated in the garden could be a source of income for the garden’s maintenance. From an ethnobotanical and germplasm conservation point of view, this garden features key cultivars and plants that have been used in traditional Iranian medicine.