Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants Used in Central Macedonia, Greece

Abstract

This work provides the ethnobotanical data concerning the traditional use of medicinal plants in Macedonia region (Northern Greece), which has, up to now, been poorly investigated. The aim of the present study was to collect, analyze, and evaluate information on the use of medicinal plants among different population groups living in Central Macedonia. The study was carried out in the area of two small cities, Edessa and Naoussa, and nearby villages. The ethnobotanical data were gathered through extensive and semistructured interviews. The informants belonged to different population groups living in the study areas and were involved, at least partially, in agriculture. Together with detailed reports on each species, data were also summarized by some indices, such as Fidelity Level (FL) and Informant Consensus Factor (Fic). A group of 96 informants was interviewed and 87 plant taxa with medicinal uses were cited. Medicinal plants are used to treat a wide range of diseases, in particular ailments of the respiratory tract and skin disorders. The importance of the traditional use of plants to cure and prevent common and some uncommon diseases had been highlighted. About 55% of medicinal plants mentioned by the informants had been previously reported to be sold in Thessaloniki herbal market as traditional remedies. Medicinal uses of some endemic taxa had been reported, e.g., Satureja montana subsp. macedonica, a member of the S. montana group restricted to Northern Central Greece, Origanum dictamnus, an endemic species of Crete, and six Balkan endemics, i.e., Achillea holosericea, Digitalis lanata, Helleborus odorus subsp. cyclophyllus, Sideritis scardica, Thymus sibthorpii, and Verbascum longifolium. Several differences in Traditional Ethnobotanical Knowledge (TEK) were observed in relation to social and cultural components of the population. Only 7 species (Crataegus monogyna, Hypericum perforatum, Matricaria chamomilla, Rosa canina, Sambucus nigra, Sideritis scardica, and Tilia platyphyllos) were commonly reported by all population groups, whereas 30 out of 87 taxa (34%) were exclusively mentioned by a single group. All groups are incorporated in the local society and do not identify themselves as members of different ethnic groups, although they try to preserve their distinctiveness by keeping their traditions and dialects. Nevertheless, our data show that the knowledge regarding the medicinal plant use was rarely accompanied by preservation of linguistic diversity concerning the plant names. This work contributes to improve the knowledge on the traditional use of plants in the folk medicine of a region like Central Macedonia where different population groups live together, partially maintaining their traditions. A part of data of this paper has been presented as posted at 112° Congress of Italian Botanical Society (IPSC), Parma 20-23 September 2017.

Implications of salep collection for the conservation of the Elder-flowered orchid (Dactylorhiza sambucina) in Epirus, Greece

“…Salep is popular primarily in Turkey, but also in Greece, Iran, Iraq and Albania [21, 22]. It is mainly sold by street vendors during winter, as a remedial hot beverage for cold and cough in the aforementioned countries [23]. It has also a long tradition in gourmand and culinary products as key ingredient in the famous dondurma (Kahramanmaras) ice cream in Turkey [24] and kaimaki ice cream in Greece [17].…”

Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of the Genus Equisetum (Equisetaceae): A Narrative Review of the Species with Therapeutic Potential for Kidney Diseases

“…Studies that describe this genus's traditional applications, summarized in Table 1, show that the oral administration is the most common route for its use, using the infusion or decoction of the aerial parts as the main method of preparation [1,9,42]. e most widespread traditional use of Equisetum is as a diuretic [1,12,33,34,41,42], followed by the treatment of genitourinary diseases (kidney diseases, urethritis, kidney stones, and others) [10,16,25,26,33,34,[37][38][39], inflammation [10, 20-22, 27, 40], wound healing [21,28,39,41], rheumatic diseases [9,19,31,34,39], prostatitis [33,36,40], and hypertension [1,21,27]. Studies compiled in this work pointed out that the most popular species from the Equisetum genus with medicinal use is E. arvense L., commonly known as "horsetail", with uses reported in countries like Brazil, Romania, Germany, Serbia, China, Greece, Portugal, Iran, and ailand.…”

“…Studies that describe this genus's traditional applications, summarized in Table 1 , show that the oral administration is the most common route for its use, using the infusion or decoction of the aerial parts as the main method of preparation [ 1 , 9 , 42 ]. The most widespread traditional use of Equisetum is as a diuretic [ 1 , 12 , 33 , 34 , 41 , 42 ], followed by the treatment of genitourinary diseases (kidney diseases, urethritis, kidney stones, and others) [ 10 , 16 , 25 , 26 , 33 , 34 , 37 – 39 ], inflammation [ 10 , 20 – 22 , 27 , 40 ], wound healing [ 21 , 28 , 39 , 41 ], rheumatic diseases [ 9 , 19 , 31 , 34 , 39 ], prostatitis [ 33 , 36 , 40 ], and hypertension [ 1 , 21 , 27 ].…”

Turning Meadow Weeds Into Valuable Species for the Romanian Ethnomedicine While Complying With the Environmentally Friendly Farming Requirements of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy

“…An improvement of oxidative stress and inflammatory status was observed in patients with knee osteoarthritis treated with A. lappa root tea (Maghsoumi-Norouzabad et al, 2016), as well as in treating inflammatory acne (Miglani and Manchanda, 2014). In Greece, A. lappa's root is used for musculoskeletal diseases, in particular against joint pains and rheumatism (Tsioutsiou et al, 2019). In Bosnia and Herzegovina this plant is used to treat skin conditions, to strengthen the hair root, against intestinal parasites, for dissolution of kidney stone, for improved urination, against diabetes and rabies, dog's bites, to release stomach gasses, against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and to treat facial nerve inflammation etc.…”