Available online 17 July 2015
Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
This
research contributes momentous ethnopharmaceutical information on
medicinal plants used by local people who live in the Bozyazı district
of Mersin in Turkey.
Aim of the study
To
arrange a list of herbal treatments from the Bozyazı region with their
habitual use, plant parts and application methods besides computing some
statistical indices.
Materials and methods
Plant
specimens that have been collected by herbalists or local people from
Bozyazı for therapeutic purposes were investigated by visiting the
villages during the study period, and then conveyed to the laboratory to
diagnose the species. In addition, the relative frequency citation
(RFC), use values (UV), informant consensus factor (ICF) and fidelity
level (FL) were calculated.
Results
In
this survey conducted between 2013-2015, 159 taxa associated with 55
families, excluding 9 edible mushrooms, were detected as they have been
utilized for centuries in terms of the healing by visiting 14 villages
and 4 herbalist shops in Bozyazı. Lamiaceae, Asteraceae Orchidaceae,
Rosaceae, Fabaceae and Geraniaceae have been determined as the most used
families for therapeutic purposes. The study revealed that most of the
residents concurred on the use of Sideritis erythrantha herba
to cure respiratory diseases that demonstrated the highest fidelity
level (89). 63 taxa have not matched with any studies conducted in and
around the region.
Conclusion
Throughout
the research carried out Bozyazı district, it has been observed that
people living in rural areas have more knowledge and experience about
the use and benefits of plants, compared to the people living in the
district center. It was detected that the medicinal plants have been
used mostly in the therapy of Haemorrhoids. The most information is
obtained from the mountain villagers and Yuruk nomads, having average
ages of 46.3, during the whole study. In terms of ethnobotanical
perspective, the district has stayed valuable due to the winding roads
over the mountains and along the coast is very difficult to drive making
Bozyazı too far from large cities and mass tourism centers.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Ethnomedicine;
- Medicinal plants;
- Statistical values;
- Bozyazı district;
- Mersin;
- Turkey
Copyright © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
