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The Role of Botanical Families in Medicinal Ethnobotany: A Phylogenetic Perspective

1 Institut Botànic de Barcelona (IBB, CSIC-Ajuntament de Barcelona), Passeig del Migdia s.n., Parc de Montjuïc, 08038 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; [email protected] (O.H.); se.cisc.bbi@ejtanragt (T.G.)

Oriane Hidalgo

Ugo d’ambrosio.

2 Mediterranean Ethnobiology Programme Director, Global Diversity Foundation, 37 St. Margarets Street, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2TU, UK; moc.oohay@aipotogu

Montse Parada

3 Laboratori de Botànica (UB)—Unitat associada al CSIC, Facultat de Farmàcia i Ciències de l’Alimentació, Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat—IRBio, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Joan XXIII 27-31, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; [email protected]

Teresa Garnatje

Joan vallès.

4 Secció de Ciències Biològiques, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Carrer del Carme 47, 08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Associated Data

The data presented in this study are available in Supplementary Material S2 , and further information could bo obtained on request from the corresponding authors.

Studies suggesting that medicinal plants are not chosen at random are becoming more common. The goal of this work is to shed light on the role of botanical families in ethnobotany, depicting in a molecular phylogenetic frame the relationships between families and medicinal uses of vascular plants in several Catalan-speaking territories. The simple quantitative analyses for ailments categories and the construction of families and disorders matrix were carried out in this study. A Bayesian approach was used to estimate the over- and underused families in the medicinal flora. Phylogenetically informed analyses were carried out to identify lineages in which there is an overrepresentation of families in a given category of use, i.e., hot nodes. The ethnobotanicity index, at a specific level, was calculated and also adapted to the family level. Two diversity indices to measure the richness of reported taxa within each family were calculated. A total of 47,630 use reports were analysed. These uses are grouped in 120 botanical families. The ethnobotanicity index for this area is 14.44% and the ethnobotanicity index at the family level is 68.21%. The most-reported families are Lamiaceae and Asteraceae and the most reported troubles are disorders of the digestive and nutritional system. Based on the meta-analytic results, indicating hot nodes of useful plants at the phylogenetic level, specific ethnopharmacological research may be suggested, including a phytochemical approach of particularly interesting taxa.

1. Introduction

Ethnobotany is a relatively recent denomination for a discipline that studies plant names, uses and management by human societies from ancient to current times, aiming at their projection to the future [ 1 ]. Even if a precedent of this term, botanical ethnography, was coined to name the investigation of any plant materials in archaeology in order to unveil their uses and symbolisms [ 2 ], Harshberger [ 1 ] himself emphasised the fact that ethnobotanical findings should not only constitute an inventory of old knowledge, but should be relevant for current productive activities. From those dates to the present times, ethnobotany undertook methodological innovations, but maintained the double approach of recording and preserving the ancient uses of plants by people—which contributes to describing human lifestyles—and aiming to improve human life conditions [ 3 ]. This is why the collection of plant uses related to health, mostly medicinal and food ones, are predominant in ethnobotanical research, although other uses are relevant as well [ 4 ]. According to the importance of using folk local knowledge to preserve and improve health, not a few drugs have been developed based on their ethnobotanical background, such as, to quote just two famous and recent ones, the oseltamivir, used against chicken flu [ 5 ], and the antimalarial artemisinin [ 6 ]. Additionally, in agreement with this, medical or pharmaceutical ethnobotany, the botanical side of ethnopharmacology, is one of the main pillars of the discipline, particularly in industrialised countries [ 7 , 8 ].

In Europe, the Catalan linguistic domain, the framework of the present research, is among the better-known Iberian areas from an ethnobotanical viewpoint [ 9 ]. The amount of information recollected until now allows us to start conducting research involving comparison among several territories [ 4 , 10 ], in order to establish general patterns in ethnobotanical knowledge.

In the above-referred geographical area, as in general in Europe and worldwide, the predominant ethnobotanical research has been an ethnofloristic one [ 11 , 12 ]. Nevertheless, efforts are being devoted toward finding other complementary approaches, such as studies focused on plants used for ailments related to a determined system, and on the validation of the ethnobotanical evidence with chemical or pharmacological data [ 13 ]. Moreover, the potentially predictive role of molecular phylogeny in bioprospection and in phytochemistry [ 14 , 15 ] and the concept of ethnobotanical convergence [ 16 , 17 ] has opened the way to integrate ethnobotany with genetic (including molecular phylogenetic), genomic (and other “omic” disciplines) and phytochemical approaches [ 18 , 19 ].

One of the aspects always addressed in ethnobotanical investigation is the distribution of the plant taxa recorded in botanical families, since, after the number of plant species known in a given territory, the families in which they are included is one of the most evident pieces of information. Even if some deeper analyses of the causes for some predominating families have been undertaken [ 18 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ], work in this field is still lacking, including territories other than those already considered, and taking into account, among others, phylogenetic issues.

Several statistical methods have been used to test whether a specific taxonomic group is over- or underrepresented in an ethnobotanical flora in comparison to overall local flora. Although the linear regression analysis [ 21 ] and binomial analysis [ 24 ] have been widely used, more recent studies have pointed out some limitations in these previous analytical methods, and propose a Bayesian approach in order to analyse the over- and underused plant groups [ 22 , 23 ]. This method allows us to consider the uncertainty of the proportion of medicinal plant species in the overall flora and shows its robustness in small datasets [ 22 ].

In this context, the aim of this work is to shed light on the role of botanical families in ethnobotany, depicting, in a molecular phylogenetic frame, the relationships between botanical families and medicinal uses of vascular plants in several Catalan-speaking territories (Formentera, Mallorca, and Catalonia, Northern Catalonia included). This will allow us to ascertain the most used families in pharmaceutical ethnobotany in this area and the possible phylogenetic reasons accounting for this, and to find out whether some families are more focused on some particular health conditions than others.

2. Results and Discussion

For the areas under consideration, we analysed a total of 47,630 use reports corresponding to medicinal uses of vascular plants in human medicine registered in our database, including data from ethnobotanical research performed from 1991 until today, in order to study different aspects related to the botanical families to which these uses belong, and the disorders they refer to.

Based on these data, we can state that the medical ethnobotany of the Catalan-speaking territories scrutinised is distributed in 120 botanical families of vascular plants (seven to pteridophytes, five to gymnosperms and 108 to angiosperms). These families include 894 taxa, with medicinal uses, of which 41 have only been determined at generic level (the remaining majority, at specific and infraspecific levels).

The ethnobotanicity index (EI) for the studied area is 14.44%. In addition, the total considered flora ([ 25 ], see materials and methods for precisions) is at least slightly larger than that of the territories object of the present research, since some plants present in the places not covered here (i.e., Valencian area and some of the Balearic Islands) do not grow in the areas here concerned. This just means that, in fact, the EI in the studied area has been slightly underestimated. The result, as calculated, is higher than in other Mediterranean areas like Arrábida Natural Park, Portugal (12.1%; [ 26 ]), Monti Sicani Regional Park, Italy (12.7%, [ 27 ]) or the northwest Basque Country (12%; [ 28 ]), and lower than that of Serra de São Mamede, Portugal (23.1%; [ 29 ]), in the same biogeographical region, or that of Keelakodankulam, India (20.17%; [ 30 ]), in a quite distant and floristically different area.

The EI was conceived [ 31 ], and is usually calculated, for species and infraspecific taxa. Nevertheless, as the present paper focuses on families too, we calculated the EI for this taxonomic category (excluding the 15 non-native families, not present in the flora used as a basis). We found a familiar EI of 68.21%, indicating that almost three-quarters of the families in the area considered contained plants used in pharmaceutical ethnobotany. We believe that it would be of interest to calculate this parameter for other ethnofloras, in order to be able to compare the rates of families hosting useful plants.

2.1. Most Reported Families

Among the 10 most cited families ( Table 1 ), which represent 57.34% of total use reports, we find some of the most relevant in ethnobotanical studies in the Mediterranean, namely Lamiaceae (15.40%), Asteraceae (11.90%) or Rosaceae (5.57%). These are large in terms of number of taxa, Asteraceae being the largest one [ 32 ]. These families are cosmopolitan and well represented in our territories, but also, particularly in Lamiaceae and Rosaceae, they are economically very significant, thanks to aromatic plants in Lamiaceae [ 33 ] and edible fruits and ornamental uses in Rosaceae [ 34 ]. In ethnofloristic works conducted in Mediterranean areas, these three families are almost always predominate at the top of the list, and also some others such as Fabaceae and Apiaceae [ 11 , 12 , 26 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. From this, the simple but clear idea can be deduced, that people use with preference (or at least importantly) the plants that they easily find not far from their place of daily life, as Johns et al. [ 46 ] and Bonet et al. [ 47 ] stated.

Top ten families by citations, with number of use reports (UR), UR percentage and number of taxa with uses present in the flora of the territories studied.

In addition, partly due to the restructuring of families following the APG IV last update [ 48 ], in which Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae have become part of the family Malvaceae, this latter family also appears in the top 10 most reported families, with 4.82%.

The remaining most quoted families are Adoxaceae (4.14%), Apiaceae (3.49%), Amaryllidaceae (3.24%), Oleaceae (3.08%), Pinaceae (2.90%) and Rutaceae (2.79%). Four of these families (Apiaceae, Oleaceae, Pinaceae, Rutaceae) have not been the object of any recent systematic restructuring, and they are classically important in terms of medicinal taxa. Conversely, the Adoxaceae, with only ca. 225 species worldwide [ 49 ], and just six of them in the studied area [ 25 ], now host Sambucus nigra , one of the most used plants in the Mediterranean region and, in particular, in the Catalan-speaking territories [ 50 , 51 ], which has recently been transferred from the Caprifoliaceae. Similarly, the Amaryllidaceae exhibit a significant rate owing to the fragmentation of the Liliaceae lato sensu in several families and the attribution of genus Allium to this family, which is also very relevant in Mediterranean pharmaceutical ethnobotany [ 42 ].

Moerman [ 20 ] concluded that although in a random universe the size of a family would be the best predictor of its medicinal potential in number of taxa, the Asteraceae contain more medicinal plants than random would indicate, so that size is not the only condition for this success. Moerman et al. [ 21 ] found, through a comparative analysis of several geographically distant medicinal floras, that the five most important medicinal plant families in four very differentiated regions (North America, Korea, Kashmir, Chiapas highlands) were delineated by only nine plant families (Araceae, Bignoniaceae, Ericaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Loganiaceae, Malvaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae), accounting for the existence of a global pattern of human knowledge. Indeed, to include a fifth area (Ecuador), only three more families were necessary (Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Lamiaceae). In the same line, six out of the top ten families in the present study are among the 14 most quoted ones in the five North American, Mesoamerican, South American and Asian territories investigated by Moerman et al. [ 21 ], those reported above plus Liliaceae and Ranunculaceae. The only top families in this paper not appearing in Moerman et al. [ 21 ] are Adoxaceae, Oleaceae, Pinaceae and Rutaceae (considering the Amarillydaceae included in the Liliaceae lato sensu , as this family was referred to in the aforementioned work).

2.2. Over- and Underuse of Plant Groups and Plant Families

Results for the over- and underused high taxonomic groups are shown in Table 2 . Gymnosperms and monocots are the only two groups that differ from the common proportion. The observed proportion was 0.1709 and ranges from 16% and 18% with 95% of probability and, consequently, we can refuse the null hypothesis for these groups. While monocots are underused, gymnosperms are overused. The proportion of used monocots is very low, and the 95% posterior credible interval very narrow. Contrarily, gymnosperms show the highest proportion of the used plants, and a larger interval, possibly related, according to Weckerle et al. [ 22 ], to their small number of species.

Over- and underused high taxonomic groups in the Catalan-speaking territories.

n j : number of plant taxa in the overall flora; x j : number of medicinal plant taxa; θj : proportion of medicinal species; Inf. and Sup.: The 95% posterior credible interval of θj. * Taxonomic groups differing from H 0 .

The families whose 95% posterior credible interval lies above the interval of the overall proportion of flora (0.160, 0.182) are listed in Table 3 . These overused families are families represented by a small number of genera, and most of them having medicinal uses, that is, with high proportions. The preponderance of woody species over herbaceous among the most used has been discussed by several authors [ 20 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. Fagaceae, Rutaceae and Cannabaceae are the three most overused families. The woody families such as Fagaceae, Pinaceae and Cupressaceae (the last two gymnosperms) together with some shrubby families such as Buxaceae, Rhamnaceae and Ericaceae are overrepresented in the medicinal Catalan flora, but in approximately the same proportion as weedy plant families, such as Equisetaceae, Asphodelaceae or Urticaceae.

Overused plant families in the studied area.

n j : number of plant taxa in the overall flora; x j : number of medicinal plant taxa; θj : proportion of medicinal species; Inf. and Sup.: The 95% posterior credible interval of θj .

The families whose 95% posterior credible interval lies below the interval of the overall proportion of flora (0.160, 0.182) are listed in Table 4 . Usually, these are families comprising a large number of species in the local flora and with little representation in the medicinal one. In the present study, only nine families are underused, Cyperaceae, Plumbaginaceae and Poaceae, the most underused. Three families, Poaceae, Juncaceae and Cyperaceae belong to the underrepresented high group of monocots. In the present study, most of members of the underused families are herbaceous plants.

Underused plant families in the studied area.

2.3. Genera with Folk Medicinal Uses

The 120 families recorded are represented herein by 432 genera. If we analyse the number of genera per family, the results vary slightly, and families with more genera are Asteraceae (52), Fabaceae (30) and Lamiaceae (25). Apart from the two families with the most use reports, here appears the Fabaceae family (765 UR, 1.61%), although not being among the top ten. Despite not having a high percentage, Fabaceae is a relevant family in the Mediterranean flora (even being indicative of the Mediterranean character of a territory; [ 55 ]) and ethnoflora [ 42 ]. Conversely, Adoxaceae with a large number of use reports (1,971 UR, 4.14%) is very asymmetrically distributed in only two genera, Sambucus (99.9%) and Viburnum (0.1%), which would be explained by the change of family, since they previously belonged to the Caprifoliaceae, yet with the APG system, a new familiar delimitation of the Adoxaceae was created for these two genera, and for three more not present in our territory. On the other hand, there are 60 botanical families in which all the reports are grouped in a single genus. Some examples, representing pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms, are the Equisetaceae, a family with 578 UR exclusive of the genus Equisetum , the only one in the family to be present in the studied area, and the Taxaceae and the Juglandaceae families, with 17 and 570 UR respectively, exclusively represented by their corresponding single species growing in the area, Taxus baccata L. and Juglans regia L. There are also families that concentrate all the medicinal records in one genus, although they have other representatives in the territories studied like Liliaceae stricto sensu, with six genera in the concerned area, but with all UR from only one, Lilium .

2.4. Plants not Appearing in the Flora of the Studied Area

Concerning plants not appearing in the flora of the territories studied ([ 25 ]; see materials and methods for details), there are 15 families not present in the flora of our territory, representing 12.5% of the total number of families. Examples are Actinidiaceae, Myristicaceae and Zingiberaceae. These families contain very renowned and used medicinal plants, some of them used first for food purposes, such as Actinidia chinensis Planch., Myristica fragrans Houtt. and Zingiber officinalis Roscoe. In addition, there are 62 taxa not present in our territory, yet belonging to families that nonetheless are present thanks to other genera; this is the case of Cinnamomum verum J.Presl (Lauraceae), Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae) or Coffea arabica L. (Rubiaceae), to give some examples. Even the two most quoted families, in terms of UR, Asteraceae and Lamiaceae, very abundant in wild representatives in the region under investigation, include non-native plants in the local ethnoflora, some examples are Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench and Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) Bertoni, and Monarda didyma L., Ocimum basilicum L., and Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton, respectively. It is important to emphasise that a number of plants ethnobotanically used are not present in the Catalan flora [ 25 ], and yet they are important in local ethnobotany. Indeed, in a work in progress regarding in the Catalan linguistic area we are recording a non-negligible number and percentage of UR attributed to non-native plants [ 56 ].

2.5. Most Reported Troubles

We grouped the troubles or systems addressed in 15 categories ( Table 5 ). The four most addressed troubles, representing 61.01% of all use reports, are disorders of the digestive and nutritional system (11,754 UR, 24.68%), followed at a great distance (approximately half of the use reports) by respiratory system disorders (6418 UR, 13.47%), skin or subcutaneous tissue disorders (5588 UR, 11.73%) and circulatory system and blood disorders (5299 UR, 11.13%). Most uses are addressing mild and chronic illnesses, which agrees with the most widespread idea on the main focuses of pharmaceutical ethnobotany and phytotherapy in general [ 57 ], but in some cases, they are also pointing to acute and more severe health troubles, like cardiovascular and pulmonary ones, and even cancer.

Medicinal uses grouped in troubles or systems addressed with number and percentage of use reports (UR).

2.6. Relationship between Families and Uses

One of the most important aims of this work is to study the possible relationships between plant families and categories of medicinal uses, i.e., troubles or systems addressed. We analysed the correspondences between families and health diseases, and will now comment on the most relevant findings.

A general consideration of the relationship between families and UR in a phylogenetic frame ( Figure 1 ) shows, within the angiosperms, that the superasterids clearly host the largest number of uses, as well as the largest number of families with an important number of UR, in comparison with the remaining large groups. In each of these, only one or a few families play a protagonist role, such as Malvaceae, Rosaceae and Rutaceae in the superrosids, Ranunculaceae in the eudicots, and Amaryllidaceae and Poaceae in the monocots. Magnoliids and basal angiosperms are not of much significance in terms of UR. It is worth mentioning that, in the asterids, most UR are concentred in the most evolved clade, formed by the campanulids plus the lamiids. As for the gymnosperms, the Pinaceae accumulate most UR.

Heatmap depicting the distribution of use records among plant families and the addressed troubles/systems. Abbreviations, as quoted in the figure, are as follows. CB, circulatory system and blood disorders; PI, pain and inflammations; DN, digestives system and nutritional disorders; P, poisoning; EM, endocrine system and metabolic disorders; PBP, pregnancy, birth and puerperal disorders; G, genitourinary system disorders; II, infections and infestations; IN, immune system disorders and neoplasia; NM, nervous system and mental disorders; MT, musculoskeletal system disorders and traumas; SS, skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders; R, respiratory system disorders; S, sensory system disorders; TR, tonic and restorative.

The analysis of the percentages of UR related to the different troubles/systems within each family ( Figure 2 ) denotes that the highest rates are rather widespread at the phylogenetic scale. In any case, it clearly appears that a large number of families have exhibit digestive and nutritional problems as the most treated ones (mean percentage: 24.56), which is in agreement with the above-mentioned idea that ethnobotany and phytotherapy importantly address mild, daily health constraints. Nevertheless, in the vast majority of families, there are also strong rates of uses focused on circulatory and blood, and respiratory ailments (mean percentages: 14.30 and 11.03, respectively), most of which are not so mild. Finally, some disorders are very scarcely addressed in the pharmaceutical ethnoflora under consideration, such as those linked to endocrine and metabolic, and immune systems, as well as to neoplasia (mean percentages: 0.35 and 0.16, respectively).

Heatmaps depicting percentages of use reports related to the different troubles/systems within each family, and percentages of use reports of families for each trouble/system. Abbreviations, as quoted in the figure, are as follows. CB, circulatory system and blood disorders; PI, pain and inflammations; DN, digestives system and nutritional disorders; P, poisoning; EM, endocrine system and metabolic disorders; PBP, pregnancy, birth and puerperal disorders; G, genitourinary system disorders; II, infections and infestations; IN, immune system disorders and neoplasia; NM, nervous system and mental disorders; MT, musculoskeletal system disorders and traumas; SS, skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders; R, respiratory system disorders; S, sensory system disorders; TR, tonic and restorative.

If we analyse the percentage of use reports of families for each disorder ( Figure 2 ), 10 out of the 15 trouble/system categories established are dominated by the two families with most UR in general, Lamiaceae (six categories: Circulatory system and blood disorders; pain and inflammation; digestive system and nutritional disorders; skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders; respiratory system disorders; tonic and restorative) and Asteraceae (four categories: Endocrine system and metabolic disorders; infections and infestations; musculoskeletal system disorders and traumas; sensory system disorders). The well-known important presence and diversity of essential oil compounds in the Lamiaceae [ 58 ] account—together with the size of the family, as already commented—for its relevance in many medicinal fields related to antiseptic properties, which could explain the prevalence in digestive, dermic and respiratory disorders. Similarly, the abundance, among other compounds, of terpene compounds (including sesquiterpene lactones) in the Asteraceae [ 59 ] is logically at the basis of their uses for different ailments, again considering the size and diversity within the family.

Concerning Asteraceae, we want to underline two troubles in particular. First, the uses for the musculoskeletal system disorders and traumas, explained by Arnica montana L. (335 UR, 52.59%) and other species of this family ( Arctium minus (Hill) Bernh., Doronicum grandiflorum Lam., all of the Inula genus, Jasonia saxatilis (Lam.) Guss., Pallenis spinosa (L.) Cass. and Pulicaria dysenterica (L.) Gaertn.) referred to with the popular name “ àrnica ” (189 UR, 29.67%). In total, the ethnotaxon constituted by Arnica montana and the aforementioned related taxa accumulates 82.26% of the Asteraceae UR employed for musculoskeletal system disorders and traumas, specially bruises. This medicinal plant complex has been well studied in the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands from a botanical and ethnopharmacological point of view [ 60 ]. Secondly, the uses for the endocrine system and metabolic disorders are due to hypoglycaemic activity (259 UR, 98.48%) of several species of the genus Centaurea , representing, with 180 UR, the 68.44% of this property, abundantly registered in this genus [ 61 ].

In the other five categories, the prominence of a family in the treatment of a problem is basically due to one or a very few taxa. Amaryllidaceae are the most quoted in fighting against poisoning cases (21.33%), with all the reports concentrated on a few species of the genus Allium , which has been reported with this function, and is, for instance, used worldwide against snakebites [ 62 , 63 ]. The dominance of Rutaceae in the pregnancy/childbirth/puerperal treatment is basically explained (27.44%) by the genus Ruta , with three species. This family is closely followed by the Saxifragaceae (22.56%), because of a few species of Saxifraga . Irrespective of the fact of containing plants used for food purposes in ethnobotany, both genera mentioned are among those most famous abortifacients recorded in folk medicine [ 64 , 65 ], this proving their relationship with the life period concerned (e.g., labour inducing, post-labour coadjuvant, dangerous in pregnancy).

Poaceae are the most relevant regarding the genitourinary system (17.66%), mostly by Zea mays L., followed at a considerable distance by Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers., both (especially the first one) are much reputed as diuretic [ 66 ]. Ranunculaceae are the top family in addressing neoplasia (21.51%), because of Ranunculus parnassifolius L., a high mountain plant much appreciated popularly for this purpose in a Pyrenean region [ 45 , 67 ]. Finally, Malvaceae leads the ranking in troubles related to the nervous system and mental disorders (29.58%). The success in this use is basically explained by the genus Tilia (733 UR, 97.34%)—recently incorporated into the Malvaceae, where Tiliaceae have been merged—very popular and largely studied as hypnotic, sedative and tranquilizer [ 68 , 69 ].

2.7. Phylogenetic Distribution of Families with Medicinal Use

To investigate the degree of phylogenetic clustering of families for each trouble or system, and to detect hot nodes for further studies, we mapped the reported medicinal uses grouped in the 15 troubles or systems addressed on the phylogeny of the families.

A robust hot node appears in three medicinal groups: immune system disorders and neoplasia; pain and inflammation; and pregnancy, birth and puerperal disorders. The hot node is constituted by the Iridaceae and three families classically included in the Liliaceae l.s., Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae, and Asphodelaceae. The last three families also constitute a hot node clade for tonic and restorative. In addition, only Amaryllidaceae and Asparagaceae are hot nodes for the endocrine system and metabolic disorders.

Tonic and restorative activities also have another robust hot node, constituted by Betulaceae, Juglandaceae and Fagaceae. For the endocrine system and metabolic disorders, the clade of Apiaceae and Araliacaeae was detected as relevant.

Finally, two robust hot nodes appear for poisoning, on the one hand, Cucurbitaceae and Coriariaceae, and on the other hand Malvaceae, Cistaceae and Thymelaeaceae.

2.8. Diversity Indices

The results of the Shannon and Margalef indices for each family are shown in Supplementary Materials . Although the values of the two indices are zero for several families and some of them present low values, such as the Vitaceae (H = 0.01 and k = 0.11), other families show a moderate diversity. The family Asteraceae is the one that presents the highest diversity according to the Shannon index (H = 1.45), while, according to the Margalef index, the Campanulaceae is the family with the greatest diversity (k = 0.70). These differences are due to the fact that the Margalef index is higher when the number of taxa and the number of use reports are equal or close within a family, while if there are many use reports for a few taxa, the diversity decreases. Despite showing a different sensitivity to the variation in the number of taxa and use reports, both indices are well correlated, (r = 0.841, p < 0.001 for a whole dataset). For this reason, we believe the two indices are robust and can be used to measure ethnobotanical diversity, even taking into account their limitations.

2.9. Needs for Further Research

This study draws our attention to the relevance of the family taxonomic level in ethnobotany. A few points in which further research is needed have arisen from our analyses.

The taxonomy of specific and infraspecific taxa in ethnobotanical works is usually given, as is logical, according to local floras but, as from the consolidation of the APG family updates, almost all papers use its system for families, which is not coincidental to those used in floras before APG rearrangements. This creates a difficulty in the comparison of data related to families in ethnobotanical research, either in one area or in different ones: the number of families and, more importantly, their rates of presence in each ethnoflora vary when applying the last classical [ 70 ] or the APG systems. An international effort should be carried out to implement the APG family system in the ethnobotanical databases in order to facilitate suitable meta-analytic work. Although new prospects will always be positive for a bigger and better knowledge of plant medicinal uses, at present a considerable amount of ethnobotanical information is already accumulated in many parts of the world, so that this is the appropriate moment to undertake comparative analyses between close and not so close ethnofloras, following the initiative, here seconded, pioneered by of Moerman [ 20 ] and followed by Weckerle et al. [ 22 ] or Dal Cero et al. [ 23 ], for which adopting the APG familiar treatment is important.

Given their relevance in most ethnofloristic surveys, the role of commercially-acquired plants in the ethnoflora, and the comparison of their uses with those of autochthonous or allochthonous plants currently present in the flora —and, then, the comparison between these two categories—is a subject that should be addressed in detail in the different major geographical areas of the world. At the family level, as treated in this work, 15 families not present in the local flora (apart from some others present hosting non-native taxa) have been recorded in a relatively small territory. This is a consequence of cultural exchanges through time, recently accelerated by the globalisation process.

Finally, a relevant aspect is a relationship between ethnobotany and phytochemistry (the latter leading to pharmacology and linked to phylogeny). Although there is not an obvious and unidirectional relationship, and little is known about phytochemical composition as compared with evolutionary aspects [ 71 ], ethnobotanical knowledge has systematic and evolutionary significance [ 16 , 17 , 71 ], and thus can help in progressing in the necessary multidisciplinary approach to ethnopharmacology and ethnomedicine. Projecting data such as those treated here in a phylogenetic framework has allowed us to detect hot nodes, richer in families useful in pharmaceutical ethnobotany. Further deeper combination of ethnobotanical and phylogenetic information within one family or a group of a few related families could lead to detecting and predicting taxa useful for particular troubles. Several ethnobotanical works include the phytochemical and/or pharmacological validation of the folk uses reported or discuss ethnobotanical knowledge in the light of chemical plant composition [ 13 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ], and this will probably be more common in the near future. Family level is particularly adequate to be addressed for establishing relationships between chemical composition, phylogenetic aspects and ethnobotanical knowledge, the three fields confronted either two by two or altogether.

3. Material and Methods

3.1. data sources and field work methods.

In this study, we used data on plants and their folk medicinal uses obtained from 44 ethnobotanical research prospects ( Supplementary Material S1 ) carried out in the Catalan linguistic domain ( Figure 3 ). We utilized the use report (hereinafter, UR), i.e., the report of the use of one taxon by an informant, as the unit of measurement [ 76 ]. Veterinary uses are excluded, and human medicinal uses are classified in 15 troubles or systems categories, according to Cook [ 77 ] with minor modifications. We grouped some categories by affinity in order to achieve more robustness in the analyses, as some of them had very few reports. The names of the troubles or system categories have remained as in Cook’s classification ( Table 5 ), and we just added a new category: tonic and restorative.

Map of the territories studied within Europe and the Catalan linguistic area. Dots indicate the areas with prospections analysed in the present paper.

The fieldwork method used in these researches was the semistructured interview [ 9 , 78 ], always taking into account the code of ethics of the International Society of Ethnobiology [ 79 ], complemented by the collection of plant specimens to be identified and deposited in public herbaria. All interviews were digitalised, transcribed and introduced into our database that contains all ethnobotanical data (on medicinal, food and other uses) collected.

3.2. Data Analysis

The simple quantitative analyses of descriptive statistics for categories (species, families, and medicinal uses) and the construction of families and disorders matrix ( Supplementary Material S2 ) were carried out with Excel software (Microsoft Office, 2010). Results were summarized as heatmaps using the R Phytools package ([ 80 ]; R version 3.6.0, [ 81 ]) and the family-level phylogeny of land plants from Zanne et al. [ 82 ], pruned to our taxonomic dataset. We tested whether each node in the phylogeny was significantly more represented by a family in a given category of trouble/system than would be expected by chance alone (i.e., hot nodes; [ 83 ]), using the nodesig test originally implemented in the PHYLOCOM software [ 84 ] and adapted for R by Abellán et al. [ 85 ].

With the aim of assessing the general state of pharmaceutical ethnobotanical knowledge in the studied area, we calculated the ethnobotanicity index (EI; [ 31 ]), which is the quotient between the number of plants used and the total number of plants that constitute the flora of the territory, expressed as a percentage. For this purpose, only the plants present in the Catalan linguistic area’s flora [ 25 ] were considered, and 5,500 taxa at specific and infraspecific level (Sáez, 2019, pers. comm.) were adopted. Furthermore, we adapted this index to calculate it for families as well.

3.3. Bayesian Method to Evaluate over- and Underused Taxonomic Groups

To evaluate over- and underused flora for the Catalan linguistic domain, 794 medicinal plant taxa at specific and infraspecific levels with uses reported and included of the flora of the studied area [ 25 ], belonging to 103 families, were recovered from the ethnobotanical database. The total flora for the same families of the studied area is 4,647 taxa [ 25 ]. These families were assigned to eight taxonomic groups: ANA-grade, early-diverging eudicots, eudicots-superasterids, eudicots-superrosids, gymnosperms, magnoliids, monocots and pteridophytes, following Chase et al. [ 48 ].

In this scenario our null hypothesis ( H 0 ) is the following: For a taxomic group ( j ), the proportion of medicinal taxa ( θj ) is equal to the overall proportion ( θ ), where θj is a random variable uniformily distributed between 0 and 1 (prior probability). The posterior probability can be estimated, its distribution will be conditioned by the observed data (see [ 22 ] for more details). Probability distribution differences from the common proportion are assessed by all families.

Calculations of the intervals of the most probable values of θ and θ j were carried out by the function which returns the inverse of density of beta probability (INV.BETA.N) implemented in Excel software (Microsoft Excel 2011).

3.4. Diversity Indices

In order to quantify the diversity of taxa within the families referred by the informants, we calculated two diversity indices ( Supplementary Material S2 ). The first one, the Shannon diversity index [ 86 ] from the theory of communication and largely used in ecology, has also been calculated in some previous ethnobotanical studies [ 87 , 88 ]. This index, calculated according to the formula H fam = −Σ p tax log 2 p tax , where p tax , represents the citation frequency of each taxon and assesses the ethnobotanical taxa diversity within each family, i.e., the family richness from the ethnobotanical point of view. The second index, k = log S/log N where S is the number of species and N the number of individuals, proposed by Margalef [ 89 ] was adapted and used for the first time in an ethnobotanical study to calculate the diversity within the botanical families following the formula: k = log T/log UR, where T represents the number of taxa. Pearson’s coefficient correlation (r) was calculated between these two datasets.

4. Conclusions

The medicinal ethnoflora of the Catalan-speaking territories includes 894 taxa belonging to 120 botanical families of vascular plants. The ethnobotanicity index (EI) is 14.44% and the familial EI is 68.21% for the studied area. This parameter allows us to compare the present data with other ethnofloras.

The most common families in the Mediterranean area, such as Lamiaceae (14.40%), Asteraceae (11.90%) or Rosaceae (5.57%) are among the most cited families which represent 57.34% of total use reports. Fagaceae, Rutaceae and Cannabaceae are the three most overused families and Cyperaceae, Plumbaginaceae and Poaceae the most underused.

The digestive and nutritional system disorders (11,754 UR, 24.68%), the respiratory system disorders (6418 UR, 13.47%), skin or subcutaneous tissue disorders (5588 UR, 11.73%) and circulatory system and blood disorders (5299 UR, 11.13%) representing 61.01% of all use reports are the most cited troubles.

To investigate the degree of phylogenetic clustering of families for each trouble or system and detect hot nodes for further studies we mapped the reported medicinal uses grouped in the 15 troubles or systems addressed on the phylogeny of the families.

In the phylogenetic reconstruction, a robust hot node appears in three medicinal groups: immune system disorders and neoplasia; pain and inflammation; and pregnancy, birth and puerperal disorders constituted by the Iridaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae, and Asphodelaceae. The last three families also constitute a hot node clade for tonic and restorative. Tonic and restorative activities also have another robust hot node, constituted by Betulaceae, Juglandaceae and Fagaceae. For the endocrine system and metabolic disorders, the clade of Apiaceae and Araliacaeae was detected as relevant. Two robust hot nodes appear for poisoning, on the one hand Cucurbitaceae and Coriariaceae, and on the other hand Malvaceae, Cistaceae and Thymelaeaceae. These results centred on the familial level are appropriate when establishing relationships between chemical composition, phylogenetic aspects and ethnobotanical knowledge.

Acknowledgments

We thank all the people who participated as informants in this work, who are, in fact, true collaborators, for sharing their time and knowledge. We are grateful to Jaume Pellicer (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) for providing us with the family-level phylogenetic reconstruction, and Samuel Pyke (Barcelona’s Botanic Garden) for the revision of the English language.

Supplementary Materials

The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/10/1/163/s1 , S1 . References used to elaborate the data matrix analysed; S2 . Families and disorders matrix, and diversity indices.

Author Contributions

The subject and its reach have been designed by A.G., J.V. and T.G., with the assistance of the remaining authors in different points. A.G., M.P. and U.D. performed the database work to select and treat the ethnobotanical information of the areas chosen. O.H. carried out the phylogenetically informed analyses. A.G. and T.G. carried out the statistical analyses. A.G., J.V. and T.G. wrote a first version of the manuscript, which was read and discussed by the remaining authors. Finally, A.G. and J.V. prepared the final version of the manuscript, which was read and approved by all the authors. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research was supported by projects 2017SGR001116 from the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government), PRO2017-S02VALLES and PRO2020-S02VALLES from the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC, Catalan Academy of Sciences and Humanities), and CSO2014-59704-P and CGL2017-84297-R from the Spanish Government. AG received a predoctoral grant of the Universitat de Barcelona (APIF 2015-2018).

Institutional Review Board Statement

This meta-analytic study, not implying any clinical or similar experiment, was conducted according to the guidelines of the International Society of Ethnobiology.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants in mersin (turkey).

• 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Marmara University, Basibuyuk-Istanbul, Turkey
• 2 Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Izmir Katip Celebi University, Cigli-Izmir, Turkey
• 3 Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mersin University, Yenisehir-Mersin, Turkey
• 4 Department of Sociology, Faculty of Letters, Istanbul University, Fatih-Istanbul, Turkey
• 5 Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Adana Alparslan Turkes University, Adana, Turkey
• 6 Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Selcuk University, Selcuklu-Konya, Turkey

This comprehensive ethnobotanical study carried out in Mersin province, which is located in the southern part of Anatolia, east of the Mediterranean Sea, compiles details on plants used in folk medicine and ethnopharmacological information obtained through face-to-face interviews. The aim was to collect and identify plants used for therapeutic purposes by local people and to record information on traditional herbal medicine. Plant specimens were collected in numerous excursions. Additionally, informant consensus factor and use value (UV) were calculated for information gathered. This study identifies 93 plant taxa belonging to 43 families and records their usage in folk medicine; 83 taxa are wild and the remaining 10 are cultivated. The most commonly used plants belong to Lamiaceae, representing 15.0% of the total, while the Rosaceae, Malvaceae, Hypericaceae, Asteraceae and Cupressaceae families each represented another 5.4%. As a result of this investigation, we determine 189 medicinal usages of 93 taxa. The UV values indicate that the most important medicine plants are Hypericum perforatum (0.80), Cedrus libani (0.78), Quercus coccifera (0.77), Arum dioscoridis (0.76) and Juniperus drupaceae (0.74). We observed that most of the drugs are prepared using the infusion method (27.6%). As a conclusion, the study finds that traditional folk medicine usage is still common, especially among the rural population of Mersin.

Introduction

The Mediterranean area, which possesses a unique ecology with various natural features, has been inhabited for millennia and is strongly influenced by human–nature relationships ( Scherrer et al., 2005 ). The tradition of using wild plants for medicinal reasons continues in today’s small rural communities, especially among societies that maintain the cultural bridge between past and present. While the recently developed fast communication technologies connect people in seconds and spread data across vast distances, traditional knowledge still holds importance in daily life. Over the past few decades, efforts to preserve traditional knowledge have escalated around the world, especially in Europe and Mediterranean countries ( Varga et al., 2019 ).

Besides being home to many plants in floristic terms, Turkey is rich in traditional herbal medicine, in addition to its cultural, historical and geographical heritage ( Bulut et al., 2013 ). Ethnobotanical studies show that traditional knowledge of medicinal plants still exists in the Mediterranean Region, especially among elderly ( Agelet, et al., 2003 ). Many scientists have focused on such studies and governmental foundations have increased financial support of this kind of research. The Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has organized studies across the country in the scope of the “Recording of Traditional Knowledge Based on Biological Diversity Project.”

The Taurus Mountains are one of the highlights of the Mediterranean Region with a rich plant diversity ( Everest et al., 2005 ). Mersin has previously been the subject of this kind of scientific research, such as a study on herbal drugs on herbal markets in Mersin, which was conducted throughout the entire province ( Everest et al., 2005 ). Thorough documentation of the traditional use of medicinal plants across the entirety of Mersin province is not presently available. Three districts ( Sargın 2015 ; Sargın et al., 2015 ; Sargin and Büyükcengiz, 2019 ) and some specific areas of the province have been investigated from an ethnobotanical perspective. Another study investigates a small section of the region ( Akaydın et al., 2013 ); however, as one of the largest cities in Turkey, Mersin needs further investigation from an ethnobotanical perspective.

We aim to record the traditional usage of medicinal plants by conducting an ethnobiological study in Mersin that covers various different altitudes and areas representing all ten of its districts.

To this end, we compare the gathered ethnomedicinal data with previous findings from the Balkan and Mediterranean regions. We highlight new plants and usages from the region for future phytochemical and phytopharmacological studies. With further cultivation studies, these findings may demonstrate the potential for economic development for the benefit of local communities.

Hypothesis of this study tests;

a Traditional knowledge is still being used in villages far from the city and main settlement centers,

b Plants are still being used in the more isolated villages.

Materials and Methods

Mersin is a province in southwestern Anatolia, located at a latitude of 36 ° 37′ north and a longitude of 33 ° 35’ east; covering a 15.853 km 2 area with a population of 1,814,468 ( http://www.tuik.gov.tr ) ( Figure 1 ). The majority of the acreage is mountainous (87%) and forestland is 54%. There are ten districts: Anamur, Aydincik, Bozyazi, Camliyayla, Erdemli, Gulnar, Merkez, Silifke, Mut, and Tarsus. This ethnobotanical survey includes 91 villages located in all ten districts of Mersin ( Figure 2 ).

FIGURE 1 . Map of mersin ( https://tr.wikipedia.org ).

FIGURE 2 . Map of visited villages of study area.

The territory of the province consists primarily of the high, rugged, rocky Western and Central Taurus Mountains. The highest point in Mersin is Mount Medetsiz (3,585 m) in the Bolkar Mountains. The altitude decreases from northwest toward the south. Kumpet Mountain (2,473 m), Elma Mountain (2,160 m), Alamusa Mountain (2,013 m), Big Egri Mountain (2,025 m), Kızıl Mountain (2,260 m), Naldoken Mountain (1,754 m), and Kabakli Mountain (1,675 m) are the topographic heights from the Bolkar Mountains in the west.

Karaziyaret Mountain, Tol Mountain, Sunturas Mountain, Balkalesi, Ayvagedigi Mountain, Makam Mountain and Kaskaya Mountain are other important elevations heading toward the south. Mersin is connected to Central Anatolia through Gulek Pass (1,050 m) from the northeast and Sertavul Pass (1,610 m) from northwest.

Rivers, streams, atmospheric conditions and the tectonic faults in the region give rise to various plains in the upper reaches of the Taurus Mountains, with altitudes ranging from 700 to 1,500 m. Major plateau areas of Mersin include the highlands of Aslankoy, Gozne, Findikpinari, Sogucak, Bekiralani, Mihrican, Ayvagedigi and Guzelyayla, Camlıyayla, Gulek and Sebil, Sorgun, Kucuk Sorgun, Toros, Kucukfındıklı and Guzeloluk, Balandiz, Uzuncaburc, Gokbelen and Kirobasi, Abanoz, Kas and Besoluk, Bozyazi, Elmagozu and Kozagac, Bardat, Tersakan and Bolyaran, Kozlar, Civi, Dagpazari, Sogutozu and Sertavul ( Figure 3 ). The province is not rich in terms of rivers. The most important rivers are the Goksu and Berdan streams.

FIGURE 3 . View of Camliyayla highland.

The climate is Mediterranean with an annual mean temperature of 22°C and a mean rainfall of 1,096 mm per year ( Meteroloji Genel Müdürlüğü, 2020 ).

The primary sources of income in Mersin are industry (40%), agriculture (30%), and trade/business sector (10%).

The main crops of Mersin are wheat, barley and cotton. Mersin plays an important role in greenhouse cultivation of various agricultural products, of which banana production in Anamur is one of the most famous. Citrus trees, tropical fruits and vegetables are also commonly cultivated.

The vegetation of Mersin district presented here is based on the authors’ own observations and field records. Mersin, which is generally covered with maquis or forest vegetation, contains Mediterranean elements. In areas with maquis, plants such as Ceratonia siliqua L. , Cistus creticus L., Laurus nobilis L., Myrtus communis L. , Nerium oleander L. , Paliurus spina-christi P. Mill., Phillyrea latifolia L. , and Quercus coccifera L. are widespread. Tree species such as Pinus nigra J.F.Arnold subsp. pallasiana (Lamb.) Holmboe, Cedrus libani A. Rich. var. libani , Abies cilicica (Antoine and Kotschy) Carriere subsp. cilicica , Juniperus excelsa M. Bieb. subsp. excelsa, J. foetidissima Willd. , J. oxycedrus L. subsp. oxycedrus, are observed in high altitudes (above 900 m). Lowland forest areas usually consist of Pinus brutia Ten. ( Davis, 1965 ; Davis et al., 1988 ; Güner et al., 2000 ).

Mersin province also has significant dune and halophyte vegetation, including taxa such as Cyperus capitatus Vand., Eryngium maritimum L., Euphorbia paralias L., Pancratium maritimum L., Halimione portulacoides (L.) Aellen, Juncus acutus L. subsp. acutus , J. maritimus Lam., Limonium virgatum (Willd.) Fourr. and Tamarix smyrnensis Bunge ( Davis, 1965 ; Davis et al., 1988 ; Güner et al., 2000 ) ( Figures 4A–D ).

FIGURE 4 . (A‐D) Some scenery of Mersin.

Some plants of Mersin are endemic to Turkey; such as Alkanna hispida Hub.-Mor., Anthemis rosea Sm. subsp. carnea (Boiss.) Grierson ( Figure 5 ), Astragalus schottianus Boiss., Centaurea pinetorum Hub.-Mor. ( Figure 6 ), Colchicum balansae Planch., Crocus boissieri Maw, Delphinium dasystachyon Boiss. and Balansa, Eryngium polycephalum Hausskn. ex H. Wolff, Ferulago pauciradiata Boiss. and Heldr., Lamium eriocephalum Benth., Ophrys cilicica Schltr., Origanum boissieri Ietsw., Papaver pilosum Sibth. and Sm. subsp. glabrisepalum Kadereit, Pimpinella isaurica V.A.Matthews subsp. isaurica , Salvia heldreichiana Boiss. ex Benth., and Sideritis cilicica Boiss. and Balansa ( Davis, 1965 ; Davis et al., 1988 ; Güner et al., 2000 ).

FIGURE 5 . Habit view of endemic Anthemis rosea subsp. carnea .

FIGURE 6 . Habit view of endemic Centaurea pinetorum .

Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

As mentioned above, Mersin is one of the most populous provinces of Turkey with a population density of 114.45/km 2 . Due to the migration mobility in the region, 55,779 people moved into and 61,917 people left the city center between 2017–2018. Regarding the population growth rate, there was a notable population increase in districts close to the city center. The number of men and women living in the province is almost equal, more than half of the population are under the age of 35, 38% are 35–64 and 9% of the population are over 65. The literacy rate is 97.72 ( TUIK, 2020 ).

The villages of Mersin province have different characteristics depending on local geographical features, such as whether they are located at high or low (near the coast) altitudes, or are near to or far from the city. There are also migrant villages and a few semi-nomadic families living in the highlands. Most of the villages in Mersin are Yoruk, alongside villages consisting of Tahtacı, Cretan and Circassian peoples. As all of the participants spoke Turkish (some elderly participants could speak Cretan and Circassian languages in addition to Turkish), we did not experience language or communication problems. Most of the remaining population of these villages is elderly. Although many of them were literate, most were at the level of primary school education.

Data Collection

This study was conducted following the guidelines for best practices in ethnopharmacological research ( Heinrich et al., 2018 ). Ethnobotanical data were collected in face-to-face interviews ( Appendix 1 ) conducted in Turkish with inhabitants of Mersin on several trips to the province between 2018 and 2019. Field work was carried out over a total of 71 days. Plant vouchers were collected in collaboration with the informants. We adhered to The International Society of Ethnobiology Code of Ethics in interviews ( International Society of Ethnobiology Code of Ethics with 2008 additions http://ethnobiology.net/code-of-ethics/ ).

A total of 338 interviews were performed. Of the participants, 247 were male and 91 were female.

The informants’ occupations were farmers, housewives, shepherds, mukhtar (village headmen), labourers (forestry workers) and cafe owners. Interviews were performed in various settings, such as coffee houses, gardens, houses and fields. Experienced adults, patients and local healers were the main source of information about local names, part(s) of plants used, ailments treated, therapeutic effects, methods of preparation and methods of administration. Interviews also covered adverse effects of folk medicines. Although the primary focus of our study was to collect information on the folkloric use of medicinal plants, animal-based remedies were also discussed and recorded.

Collected plants were identified according to “The Flora of Turkey and East Aegean Islands” ( Davis, 1965 ; Davis et al., 1988 ; Guner et al., 2000 ) and “Illustrated Flora of Turkey Vol 2” ( Güner et al., 2018 ). Voucher specimens were deposited at the Herbarium of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Marmara University (MARE) and Herbarium of Konya at Selçuk University (KNYA).

Data Analyses

Informant consensus factor ( Trotter and Logan, 1986 ; Heinrich et al., 1988 ) was calculated according to the following formula: FIC =Nur–Nt/Nur-1 , where Nur refers to the number of citations used in each category and Nt to the number of species used. This method demonstrates the homogeneity of the information: if plants are chosen randomly or if informants do not contribute information about their use, FIC values will be close to zero. If there is a well-defined selection criterion in the community and/or if information is given between the informants’ values, the value will be close to one ( Afifi and Abu-Irmaileh, 2000 ; Abu-Irmaileh and Afifi, 2003 ). Medicinal plants with higher FIC values are considered to be more likely to be effective in treating a certain disease ( Teklehaymanot and Giday, 2007 ).

A quantitative method called “use value” (UV s ), calculated according to the formula UVs (medicinal use value) parameter using the Phillips and Gentry, 1993 formula as modified and used by Thomas et al., 2009 :

in which UV s is the use value of a given species s, U is is the number of uses of species s listed by the informant i, and ns is the total number of informants.

We used the most common method of dendogram clustering to demonstrate the relationship of the taxa and traditional usages in ten different districts of Mersin. The Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA) was used for statistical analysis with v2. ( Sokal and Michener, 1958 ; Bailey, 1994 ).

The proportion and pairwise-proportion (with Holm adjustment) tests were used to compare the true (population) proportions. These tests were performed in R and the significance level was fixed at 0.05.

Demographic Features of the Informants

Details on the demographic characteristics of the participants were asked in face-to-face interviews. Among 338 participants, 16 were 19–35 years of age, 40 were 36–49, 194 were 50–70 and 88 were over the age of 70. The majority of the respondents were male (247) and 91 were female.

The age of the informants ranged between 19 and 91 years old with a mean age of 68 years.

Among all the participants; 25 were illiterate (7%), 37 were literate (11%), 190 had graduated from elementary school (57%), 43 from middle school (12%), 30 from high school (9%) and 13 from university (4%) ( Figures 7A,B , 8A,B ).

FIGURE 7 . Age groups of participants.

FIGURE 8 . (A–B) Educational status of participants.

The occupational groups of the participants consist of farming, animal husbandry, beekeeping, shepherding, retired, tradesmen and housewives. We gained access to four local healers, who can be regarded as practitioners of traditional medicine, for this study.

It should be noted that the reason women informants constituted only one third of the total number is that the study started mostly in the coffeehouses, which were generally in the center of the villages and in Turkey are frequented only by men.

Medicinal Plants and Related Knowledge

The plants used for medicinal treatment of human beings in Mersin are listed in Table 1 , while Table 2 shows the plants that see veterinary use. Both are arranged alphabetically by botanical name and include relevant information. Taxonomic changes according to The Plant List ( The Plant List, 2013 ) are shown in parentheses with scientific names in Table 1 . In total, 324 plant specimens were collected in the research area during the study period. Among these, 93 medicinal plants belonging to 43 families were identified; of these 83 taxa were wild and 10 were cultivated. The most commonly used medicinal plants were in the Lamiaceae (14 taxa), Rosaceae (5 taxa), Malvaceae (5 taxa), Hypericaceae (5 taxa), Asteraceae (5 taxa) and Cupressaceae (5 taxa) families.

TABLE 1 . Folk medicinal plants of Mersin (Turkey).

TABLE 2 . The plants used in veterinary medicine in Mersin (Turkey).

The UV data is summarized in the statistical data analysis section. Amongst the most commonly used plants were Hypericum species. During our interviews, participants shared that they learned about using the oleate of Hypericum species for external wound treatment from their ancestors, emphasizing that it was even used for sword wounds in ancient times. We even observed that many of the participants’ kept this oleate in their homes.

The fruit of Arum dioscoridis Sm, is the leading herb used in the treatment of haemorrhoids in the region. The leaves are boiled and consumed as food while fruits are used as toys.

We recorded that the latex of Euphorbia helioscopia L., E. kotschyana Fenzl , E. rigida M. Bieb. , Glaucium flavum Crantz and Ficus carica L. are used for the treatment of warts in the region. F. carica latex is also used for toothaches.

Molasses “pekmez” prepared from the fruits of C. siliqua and J. drupaceae , which are very common in the flora of the region, was traditional product used in children and adults, especially in upper respiratory tract diseases, and was also sold in the local markets.

Female participants over 60 years of age, who contributed to our research in the region, mentioned that the roots of Malva species were previously used to terminate pregnancies when birth control methods were not common, and that their mothers frequently applied this method.

Helichrysum compactum Boiss., S. cilicica and S. congesta P. H. Davis et Hub.-Mor. are endemic species of the region with therapeutic usages (presented in Table 1 ). S. cilicica and S. congesta were the most consumed herbal teas in the region and are cultivated in the gardens of some participants.

Gundelia tournefortii L. var , tournefortii and Pistacia terebinthus L. subsp. palaestina (Boiss.) Engler were used to prepare a special traditional coffee. In addition, fruits of P. terebinthus were used as a snack and sold in local bazaars.

M.communis is used in treatments for diabetes and constipation , and its fruits are also consumed as a snack. Another application we recorded in almost every village in our study was its usage during cemetery visits.

Euphorbia helioscopia L., Glaucium flavum Crantz, J. foetidissima , H. perforatum , N. oleander , Mentha longifolia (L.) Hudson subsp. typhoides (Briq.) Harley var. typhoides , Punica granatum L. and Rhus coriaria L. are used in the treatment of both humans and animals. Among the medicinal plants used for veterinary purposes, we found that only Salix alba L. is used exclusively for the treatment of animals ( Table 2 ).

Plant Parts Used and Methods of Preparation

The parts of plants used for medicinal purposes were aerial parts (26.8%), leaves (18.4%), fruits (15.1%) and flowers (7%). The main preparation methods using these parts were infusion (27.6%), direct application (22.2% without any preparation procedure), decoction (18.9%), application after crushing (11.4%), and other less common methods (19.9%).

A total of 189 drugs were recorded in this study. Most were used internally (55.7%) ( Table 1 , Table 2 ). Olive oil, flour, honey and sugar were used as additional ingredients in the preparation of these remedies.

The medicinal plants used in multiherbal recipes containing two or more species are presented in Table 3 . A decoction prepared from R. coriaria and Q. coccifera is used in the treatment of warts and a mixture prepared from P. brutia and H. perforatum is used in stomach disorders.

TABLE 3 . Multiherbal recipes used as folk medicine in Mersin.

Plant Names

Local names of medicinal plants are also recorded in this study. The names of the all plants in Turkish, as well as some Cretan plant names, were recorded during the study. Some of these plants have vernacular names that are also used for different plant species, potentially leading to complications. These are presented in Table 4 , where we see that in some cases different species of the same genus have the same common names.

TABLE 4 . The same vernacular name was used for more than one plant species.

Statistical Data Analysis

Analysis of the diversity and similarity among districts, based on the ten districts, using species abundance and amount of information on treatment usage, was carried out by hierarchical clustering ( Figure 9 ). The analysis resulted in five main clusters at the truncation point of 20. Erdemli, Mut, Gulnar and Silifke, which are close to one another, showed greater similarity among themselves. Similarly, Aydincik and Bozyazi, which are proximate to one another, also displayed very similar characteristics. Interestingly, there was a close similarity between Anamur and Camliyayla, despite them being far apart. Merkez and Tarsus were both different from the other districts, but Tarsus was the most distinct among the districts.

FIGURE 9 . Dendogram showing UPGMA clustering (with Euclide distance) of districts (those where over 10 interviews were carried out).

The proportion test was used to compare the true (population) proportion of the population who recognize and use these species in the various districts. The proportions are given below: 1-Camliyayla (0.72), 2-Tarsus (0.82), 3-Merkez (0.88), 4-Mut (0.66), 5-Anamur (0.60), 6-Silifke (0.91), 7-Gülnar (0.92) and 8-Erdemli (0.86). Bozyazı and Aydıncık districts wasn’t included.

The p -value was 0.0005773 < 0.05. We conclude that there is a significant difference between the districts in terms of awareness of the species. The pairwise comparison with Holm adjustment was conducted to detect the differences between the districts. The difference between 5–3 ( p value = 0.044) and 5–6 ( p value = 0.042) are significant. This result indicates that the major source of difference was the district (Anamur). We can interpret this to mean that Anamur uses fewer species in the traditional treatments than the other districts.

The proportion test was also used to compare the true (population) UV index for the species. As a result of our analysis, the plants with the highest UV values are H. perforatum (0.80), C. libani (0.78), Q. coccifera (0.77), Arum dioscoridis (0.76) and J. drupaceae (0.74), which are presented in Table 1 .

After analysis, the p -value is obtained as 0.4423 > 0.05. It is concluded that there is no significant difference between the five most commonly used species in terms of UV.

According to the FIC results, gastrointestinal system diseases (mainly stomach ailments) had the highest value at 0.77, followed by skin and subcutaneous tissues (mainly wound healing) at 0.72, circulatory system (mainly haemorrhoids) at 0.60, respiratory system (mainly cold) at 0.57, urinary/genital system (0.41), musculo-skeletal (mainly rheumatism, 0.44) and finally metabolism (mainly diabetes, 0.35) disorders ( Table 5 ).

TABLE 5 . FIC values of category of ailments.

Folk Remedies and Related Knowledge Originating From Animals

This research determines that some animals, which constitute an important part of biological diversity, are used for medical purposes in addition to plants used as traditional folk medicine in Mersin. Because animal-based folk remedies are a part of traditional therapy, we present them in this study alongside plants. The folk remedies derived from animals ( n = 110) recorded during fieldwork via interviews with informants are presented in Table 6 .

TABLE 6 . Animal-based folk remedies used in Mersin for treating human diseases.

We observed that local people dealing with animal husbandry and hunting as a hobby in the area reaching from villages near the coast to the slopes of the Taurus Mountains were more knowledgeable in this regard.

We found that the use of hedgehog meat for haemorrhoid treatment is very common in the region. The participants added that it is very tasty alongside its therapeutic properties. In addition to the use of animals or animal products for human health, it is very common to use tortoize shell against the evil eye, especially among Yoruks. Furthermore, women and young girls of the village were said to knit with hair from the tails of horses when they could not find thread in Camliyayla, where needle lace is a common traditional handicraft. For this reason, the owners of white horses have to keep their horses tied up in their barns.

We were also informed that the calabash ( Lagenaria sp.), known as “Kaplankabak” in the Gülnar area, is used as an instrument to make sound that keeps predators away to protect people living in tents. A piece of tanned goat skin is stretched across the calabash and a rope is inserted into a hole in the skin. An intense noise is produced when the rope is pulled ( Supplementary Video S1 ).

Comparison With Previous Studies

Comprehensive ethnobotanical studies previously carried out in neighboring areas ( Yeşilada et al., 1993 ; Everest and Ozturk, 2005 ; Akaydın et al., 2013 ; Arı et al., 2018; Gürdal and Kültür, 2013 ; Güzel et al., 2015 ; Sargin, 2015 ; Fakir et al., 2016 ; Bulut et al., 2017 ; Güneş et al., 2017 ; Sargin and Büyükcengiz, 2019 ) found that P. brutia was the most commonly used herbal medicinal plant at ten localities in Mersin and its environs. Our findings compared with previous studies can be seen in Table 1 , Table 2 .

In previous studies, widely distributed species A. cilicica, C. libani, C. siliqua, H. perforatum, J. drupaceae, J. oxycedrus, L. nobilis, M. communis and O. syriacum subsp. bevanii were found to be the major plants used in traditional folk medicines. The most commonly used method for preparation in Mersin is infusion ( Akaydın et al., 2013 ; Sargin, 2015 ; Sargın et al., 2015 ; Sargin and Büyükcengiz, 2019 ).

Sargın et al., 2015 ; Sargin, 2015 ; Sargin and Büyükcengiz, 2019 noted that the fruits of C. siliqua and J. drupaceae in particular were used for “molasses” in the region. In addition, L. nobilis, locally known as “teynel,” is commonly used for medicinal purposes. Its leaves are used as a spice and during summer in the process of drying fruits to be eaten in winter. The plant is also commonly used in herbal soaps and sold in local markets. Our results agree with these previous findings.

Sargın et al., 2015 ; Sargin, 2015 , Sargin and Büyükcengiz, 2019 collected species belonging to the genera Dactylorhiza , Ophrys , Orchis and Serapias and noted that they were used in salep and ice cream production. Unfortunately, we were not able to collect these plants, although we also received information on their usage. We are able to contribute information not recorded previously on the widely cultivated plant Citrus lemon L. (Osbeck), which is used to make ice cream in Kaleburcu village under the leadership of the mukhtar.

Besides corroborating previous data in our study, we record new 36 plant taxa with medicinal usages in Mersin ( Table 1 ). Furthermore, nine plants used for applications in animal health were also recorded in this study for the first time in this region.

Plants that have been recorded in previous ethnobotanical studies in Turkey and other Balkan and Mediterranean countries are also presented in Table 1 , Table 2 ( Agelet and Vallès, 2003 ; Akerreta et al., 2007a ; Akerreta et al., 2007b ; Axiotis et al., 2018 ; Bellia and Pieroni, 2015 ; Benítez et al., 2010 ; Benítez et al., 2012 ; Calvo and Cavero, 2014 ; Calvo et al., 2011 ; Camejo-Rodrigues et al., 2003 ; Carrió and Vallès, 2012 ; Cavero et al., 2011a ; Cavero et al., 2011b ; Cornara et al., 2009 ; De Natale and Pollio, 2007 ; González et al., 2010 ; Gras et al., 2019 ; Guarrera et al., 2005 ; Łuczaj et al., 2019 ; Matejic et al., 2020 ; Mattalia et al., 2020a ; Mattalia et al., 2020b ; Mattalia et al., 2020c ; Mautone et al., 2019 ; Menale and Muoio, 2014 ; Mustafa et al., 2012 ; Mustafa et al., 2015 ; Mustafa et al., 2020 ; Novais et al., 2004 , Papageorgiou et al., 2020 ; Parada et al., 2009 ; Petrakou et al., 2020 ; Pieroni, 2000 ; Pieroni et al., 2002 ; Pieroni, 2017 ; Rigat et al., 2007 ; Rigat et al., 2013 ; Sansanelli et al., 2017 ; Sari´c-Kundali´c et al., 2010 ; Tuttolomondo et al., 2014 ; Vinagre et al., 2019 ; Vitasović Kosić et al., 2017 ; Zivkovic et al., 2020 ) The medicinal uses of the species in Mersin were compatible with previous findings; such as Asphodelus aestivus Brot. (wounds), Cydonia oblonga Mill. (diarrhea and stomach-ache), Ecballium elaterium (L.). A. Rich. (sinusitis), Equisetum telmateia Ehrh. (diuretic), Ficus carica L. (wart), Foeniculum vulgare Mill. (abdominal pain), H. perforatum (wound and haemorrhoids), Juglans regia L. (haemorrhoids) , L. nobilis (rheumatism), M. sylvestris L. (abdominal pain), Mentha x piperita L. (abdominal pain), P. lanceolata L. (wounds), Punica granatum (diarrhea), Rosa canina L. (diabetes) and Urtica urens L. (rheumatism). Further studies on some of the listed species support the folkloric uses of these plants with new evidence: the wound-healing properties of P. brutia have been shown (Cetin et al., 2013); H. perforatum has been predominantly used for treating depression, wounds and ulcers ( EMA 2006 https://www.ema.europa ); Rosa canina has been studied for antidiabetic properties ( Rahimi et al., 2020 ); and the antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcerogenic properties of Cydonia oblonga have been investigated ( Zhouet al., 2014 ).

To the best of our knowledge; usages of Arbutus x andrachnoides Link, Asphodeline lutea (L.) Rchb. , Asphodelus fistulous L., Cistus salviifolius L. , G. flavum , H. compactum, H. atomarium Boiss. , H. lydium Boiss. , Phillyrea latifolia , Polygonum cognatum Meisn. and S. cilicica have been recorded for the first time in the region, these new applications are indicated in bold in Table 1 ; however, of the folk medicinal plants with veterinary uses ( Table 2 ), Euphorbia helioscopia, H. perforatum, N. oleander and S. alba have also been listed in other studies in the field ( Guarrera et al., 2005 ; Viegi et al., 2003).

Harmful Effects of Medicinal Plants

The harmful effects of the medicinal plants were also discussed during the interviews. The informants stated that E. elaterium and Drimia maritima (L.) Stearn should be used carefully due to side effects and contra-indications.

In addition, we recorded that the fruits of Atropa belladonna L., a medicinal plant that is not used medicinally in the region, were eaten by T. G. (age 23), who had seen his father eat this plant to quench his thirst in Inkoyu. T.G. said that he ate many fruits of this plant while he was traveling with his cousin, but his cousin only tasted it. He noted that he experienced poisoning (hallucinations, dry mouth, poor vision) in the hours after consuming the fruit and that he had to go to a hospital far from the village.

Review of Local Plant Names

In our research, we also found some local plant names not recorded in other studies ( Akaydın et al., 2013 ; Sargin, 2015 ; Sargin and Büyükcengiz, 2019 ). These are: Akcakesme, Altinbas, Aysefatma, Ayigulu, Boncuklu Gogundurme, Esefatma cicegi, Ezrail meneksesi, Gomec, Hasbi cicegi, Ilgin Kandak, Karahan, Kecirisi, Kesme, Kuskonmaz, Madimak, Pisikuyrugu, Sari menekse, Selvi, and Yosun cayi. Some vernacular names of the medicinal plants recorded for the first time in Turkey in this study include Boncuklu gogundurme, Esefatma cicegi, Ezrail meneksesi and Yosun cayi ( Tuzlacı, 2011 ).

Although Turkish is spoken in all settlements in the region, some villages were established after migration events. For example, a village of Circassian immigrants has preserved their language and the elders speak Circassian among themselves. There is also a village formed by Cretan immigrants after the population exchange with Greece. The villagers speak Cretan among themselves, which allowed us to record the Cretan names of some plants during our research. Greek plant names are recorded and transcribed in the Latin alphabet. Some of these names were included in a study conducted on the island of Lemnos ( Papageorgiou et al., 2020 ).

Review of Traditional Healing With Animals

Comparing our limited data on zootherapy in the Balkans and the Mediterranean region with the study of Pieroni et al., 2011 ; we find that the use of donkey milk against cough is common, unlike the use of donkey urine and beeswax. Though limited, we believe these data will contribute to future studies to be conducted by the experts in this field.

Quantitative Findings

Comparing our UV values with those of other studies conducted in Mersin, we see that while C. libani was 0.64 in our study, Sargın et al., 2015 recorded a value of 0.36 for this plant. Our value for Q. coccifera was 0.77 UV, but 0.50 in the study of Akaydın et al., 2013 . Another high UV value in our study was 0.87 for T. polium (0.71), which was determined to be 0.57 and 0.35, respectively, in previous studies ( Akaydın et al., 2013 ; Sargin and Büyükcengiz, 2019 ). H. perforatum , which has the highest value in our study, was calculated as 0.53 in Sargın, 2015 and 0.42 in Akaydın et al., 2013 .

FIC (ICF) values have also been investigated for Mersin in previous studies and were found to be highest for analgesics (0.78), cardiovascular diseases (0.76) and kidney problems (0.70) ( Sargın et al., 2015 ); while another study had the highest value (0.74) for haemorrhoids, followed by gastrointestinal diseases, nutrition disorders, obesity (0.53) and cardiovascular diseases (0.51) ( Sargın 2015 ). In a recent study the highest FIC value calculated was for the treatment category of livestock diseases (0.78), followed by analgesics (0.67) and kidney problems (0.62) ( Sargin and Büyükcengiz, 2019 ). In another study carried out in Mersin ( Akaydın et al., 2013 ), the FIC ratios recorded were: respiratory system (0.88), gastrointestinal diseases (0.79), dermatological disorders (0.76) and urinary disorders (0.69).

The most common usages of the plants we found were for stomach disorders, wound, haemorrhoids and colds, although the previous studies found different rates of usage ( Akaydın et al., 2013 ; Sargin et al., 2015 ; Sargın 2015 ; Sargin and Büyükcengiz, 2019 ).

In this comprehensive ethnobotanical study which for the first time evaluates the entire province, we find that 93 folk medicinal plants belonging to 43 families are still being used in Mersin. Among these, the medicinal usages of 36 taxa are new records in Mersin. The usage of nine taxa in veterinary medicine are also recorded. People living in rural areas who could also benefit from modern facilities and technology, maintain a connection, which we regard as a cultural bridge in this study, to traditional knowledge in their daily lives. We also note that the younger generation living in villages more freely shared their knowledge while participating in the study. Although we can say that the transfer of traditional knowledge continues despite visual and electronic culture and the increased use of technology reaching even the most remote villages, we must also note that if this research had been carried out a few decades ago, it would have obtained more comprehensive results in terms of the use of traditional knowledge based on botanical diversity. A connection between the old and young generations that is key to the preservation of important knowledge was established during the interviews. Performing ethnobotanical studies could revitalize this bridge of knowledge between old and new generations and help form solid foundation for its preservation. As a conclusion, study also demonstrates that a historically and culturally important province with a rich flora such as Mersin has great potential as a source of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusion of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher.

Ethics Statement

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author Contributions

GE conceived and designed the research. GE, AD, MZH, IS, OT, MU, AS, and BC performed data collection, curation, and methodology. GE, IS, and OT identified the plants in 2019. GE, AD, MZH, IS, OT, AS, and BC analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript.

This work has been supported by the Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks .

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the informants who contributed to this study and who freely share us their knowledge and friendship. We also thank personnel of the Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Department of Mersin and the Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks . The authors also appreciate helps of Prof. Dr Coşkun Kuş and Sinan Kouadio Ibrahimein in statistical analysis.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2021.664500/full#supplementary-material

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Appendix 1: Questionnaire Form

1 Name and surname of the participant.

2 Age and sex of the participant.

3 Telephone and address of the participant.

4 Educational level of the participant.

5 Date of interview.

6 Place of residence of the participant.

7 Duration of residence of the participant.

8 Local name of the plant.

9 Human health or Animal health.

10 Ailments treated/therapeutic effect.

11 Plant part used.

12 Preparation.

13 Administration.

15 Duration of treatment.

16 Age group of patients (baby, child, adult).

17 Side effects.

18 Different ethnobotanical use.

19 Animal based remedies.

Keywords: Ethnobotany, folk medicinal plants, traditional knowledge, Mersin, Turkey

Citation: Emre G, Dogan A, Haznedaroglu MZ, Senkardes I, Ulger M, Satiroglu A, Can Emmez B and Tugay O (2021) An Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants in Mersin (Turkey). Front. Pharmacol. 12:664500. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.664500

Received: 05 February 2021; Accepted: 09 June 2021; Published: 07 July 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Emre, Dogan, Haznedaroglu, Senkardes, Ulger, Satiroglu, Can Emmez and Tugay. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Gizem Emre, [email protected]

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Vol. 27 (2024): Special Issue: Through the Ethnobiologists' eyes: Local communities, Biodiversity conservation, Sustainable livelihoods of the Belt and Road Countries

In 2022, United Nation Biodiversity conference proposed Ecological civilization-Building a shared future for all life on Earth. Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework set the ambitious goals of the “30-30” target.

Ethnobiology which studies the interrelationship between plants, animals, environments and people has a long research tradition. Ethnobiology research has played a positive role in Sustainable rural community development, in terms of understanding dynamics of human-plant/nature interactions, promoting sustainable resource utilization, and rural development. With the global reach of the Belt & Road Initiative over the last 10 years, it is a timely moment to reflect and re-investigate the role of ethnobiology in promoting a sustainable people-nature relationship. 

China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for international cooperation that covers more than 150 countries mainly in Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America. Construction of ecological civilizations and green economies are the guiding principles while promoting multilateral cooperation amongst BRI countries. Issues of environmental protection, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development are required considerations for investment and trade, through which an environmental friendly future in BRI countries is projected. Given the diverse cultures and rich natural resources of the Belt & Road countries, ethnobiology can provide valuable insights.

Previous publications about sustainable development in the Belt & Road Countries largely cover regional and national topics, but little information is found at community level. However, local communities along the Belt & Road Countries together with various partners are taking actions for the improvement of their livelihoods, and social and ecological well-being. These initiatives need to be showcased, not only within the academic community, but also among policy makers, private sector, and the general public. With this volume we aim at communicating the efforts of local communities and ethnobiologists to address these issues.

Topics we are interested in

• Studies showcasing the importance of ethnobiological knowledge for local livelihoods and Biodiversity conservation
• Environment and people relationships through the eyes of local people
• Good practices for Access and Benefit sharing
• Case studies documenting traditional knowledge and its local and global applications
• Ethnobiological research by local people/methodological approaches
• Ethnobiological knowledge for sustainable business innovations

Prof. Dr. Rainer W Bussmann Department of Botany, State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe, 76133 Karlsruhe, German; [email protected] Department of Ethnobotany, Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia; rainer.bussmann@iliauni,edu.ge

Prof. Yang Xuefei Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 132 Lanhei Road, Kunming, China 650201 [email protected]

Prof. Wawan Sujarwo Research Center for Ecology and Ethnobiology, National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia (BRIN), KST. Soekarno, Jalan Raya Jakarta-Bogor Km.46, Cibinong 16911, Indonesia [email protected]; [email protected]

Dr. Sailesh Ranjitkar N.Gene Solution of Natural Innovation, Kathmandu, Nepal [email protected]

Prof. Dr. Caroline S. Weckerle University of Zürich, Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany and Botanical Garden, Zürich. Switzerland [email protected]

Dr. Karuppusamy Arunachalam Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Av. Costa e Silva, s/n, Bairro Universitário, ZIP code-79070-900, Campo Grande – MS. [email protected]

Timeline August 2024 submission deadline 

A quantitative exploration of traditional medicinal plants of Koh Valley Chitral, Hindukush Range, Pakistan

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Ethnobotany Research and Applications

Ethnobotany Research and Applications  is an electronic, peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary journal devoted to the rapid dissemination of current research, published by the Department of Ethnobotany, Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, through a grant from Saving Knowledge. Manuscript submission, peer review, and publication are all handled on the Internet. The journal seeks manuscripts that are novel, integrative and written in ways that are accessible to a wide audience. This includes an array of disciplines (biological and social sciences) concerned particularly with theoretical questions that lead to practical applications. Articles can also be based on the perspectives of cultural practitioners, poets and others with insights into plants, people and applied research. Photo essays, methodology reviews and theoretical discussions are also published. The journal publishes original research that is described in indigenous languages. We also encourage papers that make use of the unique opportunities of an E-journal: color illustrations, animated model output, down-loadable models and data sets.

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An Ethnobotanical study of Medicinal Plants in high mountainous region of Chail valley (District Swat- Pakistan)

• Mushtaq Ahmad 1 , 2 ,
• Shazia Sultana 1 , 2 ,
• Syed Fazl-i-Hadi 3 ,
• Taibi ben Hadda 4 ,
• Sofia Rashid 1 ,
• Muhammad Zafar 1 ,
• Mir Ajab Khan 1 ,
• Muhammad Pukhtoon Zada Khan 1 &
• Ghulam Yaseen 1  

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine volume  10 , Article number:  36 ( 2014 ) Cite this article

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This paper represents the first ethnobotanical study in Chail valley of district Swat-Pakistan and provides significant information on medicinal plants use among the tribal people of the area. The aim of this study was to document the medicinal uses of local plants and to develop an ethnobotanical inventory of the species diversity.

In present study, semi-structured interviews with 142 inhabitants (age range between 31–75 years) were conducted. Ethnobotanical data was analyzed using relative frequency of citation (RFC) to determine the well-known and most useful species in the area.

Current research work reports total of 50 plant species belonging to 48 genera of 35 families from Chail valley. Origanum vulgare , Geranium wallichianum and Skimmia laureola have the highest values of relative frequency of citation (RFC) and are widely known by the inhabitants of the valley. The majority of the documented plants were herbs (58%) followed by shrubs (28%), trees (12%) and then climbers (2%). The part of the plant most frequently used was the leaves (33%) followed by roots (17%), fruits (14%), whole plant (12%), rhizomes (9%), stems (6%), barks (5%) and seeds (4%). Decoction was the most common preparation method use in herbal recipes. The most frequently treated diseases in the valley were urinary disorders, skin infections, digestive disorders, asthma, jaundice, angina, chronic dysentery and diarrhea.

This study contributes an ethnobotanical inventory of medicinal plants with their frequency of citations together with the part used, disease treated and methods of application among the tribal communities of Chail valley. The present survey has documented from this valley considerable indigenous knowledge about the local medicinal plants for treating number of common diseases that is ready to be further investigated for biological, pharmacological and toxicological screening. This study also provides some socio-economic aspects which are associated to the local tribal communities.

Wild resources of medicinal plants have been used by man for centuries in traditional healing systems. Indigenous people have adapted different modes of application and uses to exploit this natural resource [ 1 ]. The use of wild plants as food and medicine is prevalent in many rural communities of the world since times [ 2 ]. The local communities in many developing countries depend on plant based medicines even today, whereas, the modern system of health care is mainly dependent on plant based ingredients [ 3 ]. The traditional use of plants is inevitable in providing folk medicines for health care system and also as a source of food for the low income class and the rural communities. The indigenous system of folk medicines based on the use of plants by the local communities has been practiced for centuries and travels through generations from older to younger ones [ 4 ]. The use of plants in modern medicine has considerably increased, on the other hand traditional knowledge is gradually decreasing due to rapid urbanization and dependence of man on modern health care systems, but this folk system still prevails in the rural communities [ 5 ].

Pakistan has a rich floral diversity, represented by approximately 1572 genera and around 6000 wild plant species, which are mostly common in the Hindukush, Himalaya and Karakorum regions [ 6 – 8 ]. A number of representative studies have enumerated approximately 600 species of medicinal plants in the treatment of common ailments in the local communities of Pakistan [ 9 ]. Northern Pakistan is rich in terms of medicinal plants distribution and folk usage among the local tribal communities. Various ethnobotanical studies have been conducted in north-western parts of Pakistan and many have compiled information on the use of medicinal plants in other parts of the country [ 10 – 16 ]. Chail valley, district Swat has rich floral and cultural diversity due to its geographic location and prevailing climatic conditions. The valley has not been previously assessed ethnobotanically and in this regard the present study can be considered as the first of its kind. Wild medicinal plants, fruits and nuts add to the physical and cultural beauty of the valley.

The valley is bound by old custom and traditions and the inhabitants are mainly of low income class dependent on farming. Agriculture accounts for roughly 50% of the economic activities of valley and the major source of income for most of the rural population. The lack of communication with modern civilization has kept them closer to nature where they derive many of their day-to-day needs. The locals, in particular elders (men and women) and traditional healers (men), have centuries-old knowledge about the use of plants for treating range of common diseases [ 17 ].

The valley is under the effect of war on Terror since 9/11 due to its close vicinity with Afghanistan and the prevalent terrorist activities in the region, which has badly affected the socioeconomic conditions of the local inhabitants. The consequences of this war has led to huge disruption in both settled and tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, particularly district Swat. Due to the militant activities, there is a heavy blow to the life of people in this area. A Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment report prepared by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank incorporates the issues of life losses, injuries, psycho-social losses, mass level migrations and internal displacement of the population in this region [ 18 , 19 ]. This war against terrorists and fighting in Swat is the first serious insurgent threat to the local communities in the area. Number of forces including some foreign fighters and some religious extremists are the causal agents for rapid decline of local population in small towns and villages of Chail valley for the last ten years [ 20 ]. These are the main threats in the valley that may lead in the extinction of indigenous knowledge regarding the use of medicinal plants in near future. On the other hand, the study area is far away from the urban setup and has specific rough mountainous geographic features, where there is a lack of government services as well as modern health care facilities. Considering all these issues generally and particularly the high percentage death rate of elderly population and fast migration of younger people from the area to other safer sites, it is felt worth to document the local knowledge of medicinal plant usage in the valley.

The aim of this work is to document the local traditions of medicinal plant use and encourage the preservation of this previously undocumented information for future generations. Data collected through field trips are compiled into an inventory exhibiting the plants reported and their frequency of citations together with the part used, diseases treated and the methods of application. In particular, we have compare the documented uses of traditional healing practices with previous ethnobotanical reports in our neighboring countries to evaluate the uniqueness of our current work in the region to provide new information on less reported medicinal plant species for future studies with global acceptance.

The region has peculiar social and economic setup which is mainly related to the floral and faunal diversity of the valley. The local people give much relevance to the wild plant species for their local traditional uses as medicine. Therefore an in-depth study is needed to record the indigenous knowledge and their socioeconomic impact (Additional file 1 ).

Materials and methods

Geo-ethnographical overview of the study area.

The study was conducted in Chail valley, located in district Swat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, near the border of Afghanistan and lies between 72°-36’ longitude and 35°-09’ N latitude. Topographically, the area is mountainous region situated in Hindukush foothills range. This range runs in the general direction of North and South with varied elevations starting from 1830 m above sea level up to 4270 m with total area of about 24,148 acres (Figure  1 ). The valley is home of lush green tracts, snow-covered glaciers, forests, meadows and plains. Geo-climatically the area falls within moist temperate zone where climate is controlled by various factors of latitude, altitude, summer monsoon and cyclonic current. Winter is extremely severe with coldest months of December to February and mean minimum recorded temperature is −2.4°C. Comparatively, summer, is fairly moderate with mean maximum recorded temperature is 36.32°C. The average annual rainfall and snowfall ranges from 500 mm to 1200 mm and 423.56 cm to 600 cm respectively [ 6 , 21 ].

Geographical location of the study area.

The ethnic composition of the valley is quite diverse mainly resides with Pakhtuns (Yousafzai clan), kohistanis ajars and gujjars. Primary local language spoken in the area is Pashto (93% of the population) while the other locally known languages includes, torwali, kalami, khwar, kohistani and gujro (a mix of pashto and Punjabi) [ 22 ].

Socio economic conditions of Chail valley

Chail Valley Swat has a diversified flora with a large number of medicinal species, traditionally used as medicine and could be exploited for pharmaceutically and economically. The local community uses these plant resources as a medicine and also exploits it for monetary benefits, which is common practice since times. The topographical conditions along with severe cold weathers have a strong impact on the living of common people, but on the other hand act as a natural sanctuary for biodiversity. Rich biodiversity, indigenous system of living, faunal composition could possibly attract agro-forest industry; promote tourism and trade in the valley. This will strongly affect their living standards and have positive impact on the socioeconomic conditions of the local community.

Field interviews and data analysis

Ethnobotanical study was carried out to compile the indigenous knowledge about the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of ailments by the local communities of Chail valley Swat, from March 2011 to July 2013. Team members in the field work were Mushtaq Ahmad, Syed Fazl-i-Hadi, Sofia Rashid, Muhammad Pukhtoon Zada Khan and Ghulam Yaseen, who visited the study area in spring and summer seasons and a total of twelve field studies were conducted two each per season. Ethnobotanical information was collected from native inhabitants of the valley using semi-structured questionnaires [ 23 ]. Field work consisted of data documentation, plant collection and photography. Prior rural appraisal (PRA) approach was adopted according to Kyoto protocol concerning the intellectual property rights of local inhabitants and plant resources of the area. Formal written consent, including consent for publication was received from all the informants before the interviews began. The method employed during the study was designed with the sole purpose for eliciting the precious wealth of local knowledge on medicinal plant use. We interviewed 142 informants with aged range between 31–75 years in twelve different remote villages of valley. The informants were asked various questions about their traditional knowledge, plant use, disease treated, part used and the method of preparation and administration. Interviews were generally conducted in local language (Pashto) at village male gathering places ( Hujras ), mosques and sometime in houses. All documented data were then translated into English.

Field trips were conducted in spring and summer season, accompanied by local informants for identification and collection of plant species used in the valley. In most of the cases, the inhabitants helped in plant collection, showing their close association and familiarity with the area and flora. The rules followed during plant collection were according to the National biodiversity action plan for Pakistan [ 24 ] and dully signed from the Herbarium of Pakistan (ISL). The plants in this survey were classified into herbs, shrubs, trees and climbers using the Raunkiar’s (1934) life form classification system. The voucher specimens of collected plant species including their taxonomic and ecological information were prepared and authenticated using Flora of Pakistan [ 25 ] and then submitted to the Herbarium (ISL) of Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad for future studies.

Data documented during the ethnobotanical survey was entered on a Microsoft excel database and analyzed to determine the proportions of different variables like gender and age wise percentage of folk medicinal knowledge, life form representation, plant parts used, preparation methods and most frequently treated diseases. Furthermore, we determined the Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) of reported species using following index;

This index shows the local importance of each species and it is given by the frequency of citation (FC, the number of informants mentioning the use of the species) divided by the total number of informants participating in the survey (N), without considering the use-categories [ 4 , 5 , 9 ].

Results and discussion

Demographic data and cultural background.

A total of 68 men (48%), 55 women (39%) and 19 men traditional healers (13%) were interviewed. The informants were divided into three age groups (1) 31–45, (2) 46–60 and (3) 61–75 years old. Most of the informants belonged to age between 61 and 75 years. Eighty two were aged between 61 and 75 years, 42 between 46 and 60 years and 18 between 31 and 45 year (Figure  2 ). In all twelve villages of the valley, ethno-botanical information was documented mainly from men and traditional healers during open discussions at male meeting sites ( Hujras ) and religious places ( Mosques & Madrasas ). Present study was unique in comparison to previous ethno-botanical surveys conducted in other parts of the country, as in this context, we interviewed the female community for the first time in the Chail valley of district Swat. In this area, the societal norms among the female members are very traditional and conservative, holding strong to the popular value system deriving its basic principles from their religion. The concepts of shame and honor, hospitality, gender segregation and veiling ( Parda ) are predominant within female community. Fine shades in division of labor are obvious in this area; women generally manage the domestic life, whereas the male members are responsible for earning and representing the family at communal level [ 1 ]. Furthermore, females are strictly not allowed to talk with male members of the community except close relatives. Ethnobotanical information from female members of the community was collected with the help of old ladies (Mah Je). Interviews with female informants were held at their houses and girl’s schools. In addition to this, the purpose of data collection from female informants was to compare their indigenous knowledge with male members and also to know their interest regarding the use of medicinal plants to treat different ailments. Generally, the semi-structured questionnaire based interviews with local inhabitants began after explaining the purpose of this survey to the subject. In order to collect detailed information relating to herbal medicine, inhabitants of the community were requested to share the knowledge of medicinal plants utilization in local language. It can be assumed from this study, that all members of the community generally relied on traditional herbal medicines due to the un-availability of modern heath care facility in the valley. Similarly, easy availability and rich diversity of medicinal plants in the area may also influence the decision regarding the use of herbal medicines by the local people.

Distribution of gender, age and number of informants interviewed.

It is noted during the survey, that the female informants in comparison to male members have a significant knowledge about the preparation and administration of herbal drugs which reflect their role in house hold management and disease treatment in order to keep the family healthy. While, their role as a plant collector particularly in rough and steep mountainous tracts of the area was found to be less as compared to men and traditional healers. Similar observations were made during the ethnobotanical survey conducted in Batan, Island, Philippines by Abe and Ohtani [ 26 ], who also found that the women play an important role in preparation of traditional medicines using medicinal plants. However, the diagnostic techniques to cure common ailments were often very primitive in the valley as similar to the Unani and Islamic (Tibb) systems of medicine. Diseases like diarrhea, dysentery, skin infections, snake bites, dysmenorrhea (Period pain among women) and rheumatism were obviously easily diagnosed by the elder men, women and traditional healers in the area. The color of the tongue, eyes, cold ( Sard ) and hot ( Garam ) conditions of the body were common indicators to be used to understand the patients’ problem.

Medicinal flora

During the fieldwork of the present study, we collected data on 50 species belonging to 48 genera of 35 flowering plant families which have medicinal use (Table  1 ). The complete inventory of the ethnoflora consisting of taxon name in alphabetical order with voucher specimen number, family name, local name followed by life form, part used, preparation method, disease treated, phytochemical constituents, frequency citation (FC) and relative frequency of citation (RFC). The best represented used families in terms of the number of species were Lamiaceae (six species) and Polygonaceae (three species), while Amaranthaceae, Apiaceae, Ranunculaceaes, Rhamnaceae, Rosaceae, Rutaceae, Scrophulariaceae and Solanaceae were represented with two species each and other 25 families with one species each. The values and characteristics of Lamiaceae family as predominant in this area are similar to those of previous studied ethnoflora [ 27 – 30 ]. However, the predominance of Polygonaceae in our survey agreed with this statement that the more common a plant taxon in an area, the greater the probability of its popular use. The reported members of Polygonaceae in Chail valley includes Bistorta amplexicaule, Rheum australe and Rumex hastatus, those are commonly use as edible wild vegetables and to cure abdominal ailments, diarrhea and constipation by the local people. In terms of the life form, the highest number (29) of species used were herbaceous habit followed by shrubs (14), trees (6) and then climbers (1) (Figure  3 ). This is not surprising, that the herbaceous habit is dominant life form in our study but it is a common and widespread ecological phenomenon around the world [ 17 , 31 ]. The majority of documented plants in the valley are distributed generally in hilly tracts, near water bodies and in waste places as wild. However, a few common used species were found to be cultivated on small scale by the local farmers and household ladies for their use by themselves, for relatives and neighbors but not for marketing purpose. Mentha longifolia, Swertia chirayita, Plantago lanceolata, Origanum vulgare, Viola pilosa, Zanthoxylum armatum and Zizyphus jujuba were some common cultivated species in the valley . These species are used in the form of herbal teas, spices and powder drugs for the cure of ailments due to their rich and fragrant flavors. It is considered that understanding of the market potential for medicinal plants could provide rural farmers with the incentive for cultivation of high demand species in future.

Life form representations of medicinal plants.

It is noted during present study that both male and female members in this valley are the main users of plants for treating their common ailments. However, some plants were specific to men as sexual tonic (e.g. Aconitum heterophyllum ) and certain plants are only given to women for gynecological disorders (e.g. Paeonia emodi ). Furthermore, the elders above 60 years and small children below 10 years may also give particular plants suited to their specific age limiting ailments. Of all medicinal plants reported in the valley, Origanum vulgare , Geranium wallichianum and Skimmia laureola seems to be the most well-known to the locals as indicated by their high RFC values. However, our these results are in contrast to somewhat with previous studies, where different plant species were reported with respect to their preference use [ 14 , 21 , 23 , 32 – 34 ]. The other most cited medicinal species in our survey includes Berberis lycium , Mentha longifolia , Zanthoxylum armatum , Viola pilosa , Elaeagnus angustifolia , Plantago lanceolata , Zizyphus jujuba , Ammi visnaga and Hedera nepalensis .

The degree of ethnobotanical richness in the valley is mainly due to its rich diversity of medicinal plants with traditional uses by local tribal communities. In addition to this, the RFC values also indicate the importance of species relative to the number of local informants taking part in this study. This reflects the strong and long term association of inhabitants with local plants. However, our reported results regarding most frequently used family, species and disease treated using medicinal plants in this are considerably varied from other parts of the world [ 35 , 36 ].

Herbal drug preparation and utilization

In the present survey, we found that almost all parts of the different species were used against common diseases. The most commonly used plant parts in herbal preparations were leaves (33%), followed by roots (17%), fruits (14%), whole plants (12%), rhizomes (9%), stems (6%), barks (5%), and seeds (4%) (Figure  4 ).In many cases, more than one part of the same species, generally leaves and aerial parts (comprising stems, branches and flowers) are used in different herbal preparation and remedies. Leaves as frequently used organ in traditional herbal drugs is also reported in previous ethnobotanical studies [ 25 , 26 , 37 ]. In addition to this, leaves are the main photosynthetic organs in plants and are considered to be the natural pharmacy for synthesis of many active constituents those are pharmacologically more active against certain diseases [ 38 ]. With similar to previous reports, it is also noted in this work that roots are frequently used part, second to leaves [ 39 – 42 ]. The utilization of fruit by locals in Chail valley after leaves and roots is found to be widespread as compare to the whole plant use. This agrees with Rashid et al. [ 41 ] who also reported the rich diversity of edible wild fruits with medicinal uses in Swat region of northern Pakistan.

Frequency of plant parts used for medicinal applications.

The most important forms of preparation methods for herbal drugs were decoction (23 records) followed by powder drug (21 records), paste (7 records), extract (with oil/milk) (5), juice (5) and fresh part (2) and infusion (2 records) (Figure  5 ). The dosage of the medicinal preparation (quantity, doses, frequency, period of use, etc.) is not very precise, as it generally varied based on application, disease, age, patients physical health, illness severity, diagnosis and experience of traditional healer. It is reported that almost all of the documented species use singly as mono-herbal recipes with their specific part use for particular disease while some timesthe mixtures of various parts (e.g. aerial parts) with additional ingredients like milk, honey or butter may be used to treat some diseases. It was also observed in few cases; preparations consist of more than one plant species in different combinations to treat same disease. It is reported that total of 56 different ailments were treated in the valley using medicinal plants. Figure  6 shows that the maximum number of species were used for urinary disorders (11 species) followed by skin infections (8 species) and digestive disorders (7 species). These predominant disorders were also reported in the valley by the health department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Pakistan Demographic and Health survey (PDHS) [ 43 ]. The main reason for the use of medicinal plants by the inhabitants of the valley is the lack of basic health units, rich diversity of medicinal plants and the area is far away from the city.

Frequency of herbal drug preparation methods.

Most frequently treated ailments using medicinal plants.

Novelty index

The present study was comparatively analyzed within the region as well as with aligned countries. Published research papers were selected randomly. In Pakistan all studies published from 2008–2013 were analyzed while from aligned countries 9 research papers from 2000–2013 were reviewed. It was observed that majority of plants reported in the present study are confined to the present geographical region because the study area is linked with lesser Himalayas and may be due to their native habitats and supporting conditions. Some plants of this study area were also widely distributed in aligned countries due to their wide adaptability in different ecological zones and reported for medicinal uses but during comparative analysis some new medicinal uses were observed. In aligned countries Achranthes asper, Aconitum heterophyllum, Ammi visnaga, Berginia ciliate were also reported but their uses vary from our study except a few. Aconitum chasmanthum, Isodon rugosus and Micromeria biflora were recorded for the first time from Pakistan as well as from aligned regions. Besides this, Riccinus communis was reported for the first time for jaundice and Atropa acuminate was reported for asthma.

Among all medicinal plants reported in Chail valley, Origanum vulgare L, Geranium wallichianum D. Don and Skimmia laureola (DC.) Sieb seems to be the most well-known to the locals as indicated by their high RFC values. While, our these findings are in contrast to previous ethnobotanical studies in neighboring countries as well as to other parts of the world, where different plant species were reported with respect to their preference use [ 6 , 36 ], [ 26 ], [ 34 ]. The other most cited medicinal plants based on RFC data includes Berberis lyceum Royle, Mentha longifolia L., Zanthoxylum aromatum Dc., Viola pilosa Blume, Elaegnus angustifolia L., Plantago lanceolata L., Zizyphus jujuba.

The current present study was quantitatively compared with four published research articles from aligned countries. Quantitative data between the medicinal plants uses in Chail valley and previous reports in the four selected neighboring countries were analyzed (Table  2 ).

Future impact of the study

The study will provide a sense of social and economic responsibility among the common people, conserving the local flora. This valued information will also motivate the local community to attract tourism in the valley by preserving its natural beauty, which will enhance the socioeconomic prosperity and wellbeing of the rural community. The participation of the local community will help in conserving the floral diversity, promote trade and tourism. But meanwhile experts engaged in the policy making could possibly address the issues relate to the floristic composition and conservation. Besides the pharmaceutical and food industry could invariably exploit the local medicinal flora, which could be used for the public health and socioeconomic uplift of the region.

This study contributed to the establishment of an inventory of plant based medicines used in Chail valley of District Swat-Pakistan. A total of 142 informants were interviewed during the survey to document the indigenous knowledge about the uses of medicinal plants. The present paper summarizes a data on 50 plant species used to treat 56 common ailments.RFC values ranked Origanumvulgare , Geranium wallichianum and Skimmialaureola astop most cited and well known species in the valley. The majority of the plants were employed to treat diseases of urinary problems followed by skin infections, digestive disorders and diarrhea.The data provided by our tribal informants and analyzed in this paper clearly show that indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants uses is still alive in the Chail valley. The significance of this rich ethnopharmacological knowledge has furnished us with novel information that not only will provide recognition of this undocumented knowledge but also could provide basis for new avenues in future pharmacological screening that leads to natural drugs discovery development to improve healthcare systems globally. However to validate such information, detailed pharmacological studies must be carried out to improve the use of medicinal plants at global perspectives.This study also provides basis for the conservation of the local flora, its use as food and medicine. It will also provide various socioeconomic dimensions associated with the common people.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to our interviewees; local people of Chail valley who shared their valuable knowledge and experiences with us. Special thanks are extended to the journal reviewers for their useful comments.

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Mushtaq Ahmad, Shazia Sultana, Sofia Rashid, Muhammad Zafar, Mir Ajab Khan, Muhammad Pukhtoon Zada Khan & Ghulam Yaseen

School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300, Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia

Mushtaq Ahmad & Shazia Sultana

University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan

Syed Fazl-i-Hadi

Materials Chemistry Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed First University, Oujda, 60000, Morocco

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Authors’ contributions

This work is part of an ethnobotanical field study carried out in high mountainous region of Chail-Valley (Swat), Pakistan.The manuscript is written by MA. SS and SR help in illustrations and drafting of manuscript. MA. SFH.SR. MPZK and GY.collected data in the field, MZ help in plant identification. TBH and MAK provide technical expertise in compiling data in to the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Ahmad, M., Sultana, S., Fazl-i-Hadi, S. et al. An Ethnobotanical study of Medicinal Plants in high mountainous region of Chail valley (District Swat- Pakistan). J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 10 , 36 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-10-36

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Received : 23 October 2013

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Published : 16 April 2014

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-10-36

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