Traditional knowledge in semi-rural close to industrial areas: ethnobotanical studies in western Gironès (Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract

Background The western Gironès is a district located in NE Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula). This area comprising 186.55 km 2 and 10,659 inhabitants is composed of 5 municipalities encompassing 29 villages, located in the hydrographic basins of the Ter and Llémena rivers. Methods Following the methodology based on the semi-structured interviews, we carried out 40 interviews with 57 informants, 31 were women and the remaining 26 were men, with an average age of 78.6 years. Results In the present study, data from 316 taxa (301 angiosperms, 8 gymnosperms, and 7 pteridophytes) belonging to 89 botanical families were collected. The interviewed informants referred 3776 UR of 298 taxa, 1933 (51.19%) of them corresponding to the food category, 949 (25.13%) to the medicinal ones, and 894 (23.68%) to other uses. In addition, 581 vernacular names for 306 species, subspecies, and varieties have also been collected. Conclusions These results reveal the validity of traditional knowledge in the studied area, which can be seriously threatened by the loss of its rural condition and its proximity to industrialized areas.

Filling the gaps: ethnobotanical study of the Garrigues district, an arid zone in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula)

“…The top twenty taxa and their main medicinal uses with three or more UR (according to the reliability criterion of Le Grand & Wondergem [66] and Johns et al [67]) are shown in Table 3. Some of these taxa, either wild plants like Thymus vulgaris and Sambucus nigra L. or cultivated ones such as Matricaria recutita or Allium sativum L., are among the most cited in other Catalan territories [11,13,17].…”

“…Mountainous regions have been extensively sampled from the beginning of the practice of this science in our country [3][4][5][6][7], drawing an almost complete ethnobotanical map of the Catalan part of the Pyrenean mountain range [8]. Also profusely investigated is the coast and the two mountain ranges (littoral and prelittoral) that stretch along the coastline, from the area just north of Cap de Creus to Terres de l'Ebre in the south [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], basically constituting the Catalanidic territory from the physiographic point of view [18,19], and plateaus and basins of central Catalonia, in the Auso-Segarric physiographic territory [20]. Apart from a few areas in the Pyrenees and the Ebro delta and its neighbouring territories, Catalan ethnobotanical prospection presents a significant gap in the Western plains.…”

Berries, greens, and medicinal herbs—mapping and assessing wild plants as an ecosystem service in Transylvania (Romania)

“…While originally a basic way to fulfil several key human needs (food, medicine), nowadays, a diversity of reasons can be named for people still relating to this activity, with one major line being strong cultural bonds [4,[7][8][9]. Wild plants can be used as food, medicine, material, fuel, for ornamental, or even for "magical" purposes [10]. Wild plants can thus be rightfully seen as an ecosystem service, or even as a collection of ecosystem services, as "wild plants" is, in fact, an umbrella term covering many different concrete goods, each of which can be seen as a different service.…”

“…The collection of wild plants is mainly covered by ethnobotanical surveys, giving plant species lists and describing possible uses of the plants in detail [10,[23][24][25][26]. A significant share of the literature focuses on Asia or the Middle-East (e.g.…”

Nigerian Medicinal Plants for the Management of Liver Diseases: A Review

“…There is reported use of Nigerian medicinal plants in herbal preparations for the prevention and management of various liver disorders [16]. Moreover, the use of several traditional plant-based therapies among certain ethnic groups and indigenous people in the management of diseases including liver disease has been amply reported worldwide [17,18,19,20,21].…”