Hypericum News

Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants traditionally used in the Arribes del Duero, western Spain

Monday, July 26, 2010

J Ethnopharmacol. 2010 Jul 16. [Epub ahead of print]

González JA, García-Barriuso M, Amich F.

Departamento de Biología Animal, Universidad de Salamanca. E-37071
Salamanca, Spain; Participating group (Salamanca, Spain) in "Red
Iberoamericana de Saberes y Prácticas Locales sobre el Entorno
Vegetal" (RISAPRET, CYTED).

AIM OF THE STUDY: We studied traditional knowledge (TK) and current
uses of medicinal plants among the inhabitants of the Arribes del
Duero-ARD-(Spain), documenting traditional medical practices.
METHODOLOGY: We interviewed 80 key informants (44 men and 36 women).
Their average age was 72 years (range 48-98 years). We calculated the
cultural importance for each species cited. To analyze how TK varies
with the characteristics of the different informants, we performed an
ANCOVA, taking the number of use-reports (UR) provided by each
informant as a variable to model, and age and gender as explanatory
variables. RESULTS: 156 medicinal remedies were recorded; they were
based on a single species and were cited by at least three independent
informants, and half of them are still in use today. These remedies
are related to nine major organ systems and 54 therapeutic uses, and
70 species (belonging to 39 families) are used, most of which are
herbs (64%). The most relevant family is the Lamiaceae (23 remedies, 8
species) and the species employed in the greatest number of remedies
(8) is Urtica dioica L. However the taxon with the greatest cultural
value is Hypericum perforatum L. (CI=0.71). 31% of the variability of
the TK can be explained in terms of the age and gender of the
informants (R(2)=0.315), the age factor having a positive effect. Most
of the remedies are related to the treatment of unimportant ailments,
referring to disorders of the skin, and the respiratory and digestive
systems. The leaves and fruits are the most frequently sought plant
parts (40% and 17% of the plants mentioned, respectively), and
infusions (34%) and decoctions (28%) are the main methods used for
preparing the remedies. Likewise, we recorded remedies based on plant
mixtures and ethnomedicinal novelties or rare uses, and comment on the
influence exerted by superstition. CONCLUSIONS: Currently, many people
preserve a rich TK about medicinal plants, and it may be affirmed that
the folk medicine is still very much alive in the ARD, above all as
regards the treatment of certain common afflictions or unimportant
ailments. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

PMID: 20643201 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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