Societal Impact Statement Wild edible plants hold significant potential to strengthen food systems by enhancing nutrition, dietary diversity, climate resilience, sustainability and deeper connection of people to their food. In this study, we conducted a systematic literature review to identify knowledge gaps and assess the nutritional contributions of selected wild edible species from South Africa, compared with their commercial equivalents. We found that species from the Greater Cape Floristic Region are especially under‐researched, yet several show strong potential to address regional nutrient deficiencies and often outperform commercial crops. These findings support targeted research, cultivation and policy efforts to (re)integrate priority wild species into resilient, locally adapted food systems. Summary Wild edible plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) of South Africa have piqued recent interest from multiple sectors for their potential to contribute to the Western Cape's food systems. However, cultivation efforts remain hindered by limited nutritional knowledge. This study uses a multi‐methods approach. First, a systematic literature review establishes nutritional knowledge gaps and priorities for selected wild edible plants of the region. Existing nutritional data extracted from this review, alongside data from a global nutritional database, are then collated to summarise the nutritional contributions that these species can make to daily dietary requirements and their comparison to commercial equivalents. We find that winter rainfall/GCFR species are poorly researched and more so than summer rainfall species in terms of (a) nutritional status studied and (b) number of key nutrients tested in each species. We also identify key winter rainfall species (e.g. Carpobrotus edulis , Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, Trachyandra falcata and Lycium ferrocissimum ) that show high potential to address nutritional deficits of the region. We find that wild edibles could play a role in addressing specific nutrient deficiencies of the Western Cape and often make nutritional contributions higher than that of equivalent commercial crops. Although we find nutritional data to be sparse, that which exists suggests high nutritive potential of wild edible plants of the GCFR. We also identify priority species for future nutritional study and cultivation to enhance local food systems using the bounty offered by this biodiversity hotspot.
Kühn et al. (Fri,) studied this question.