Plant ethnoveterinary practices in two pyrenean territories of catalonia (iberian peninsula) and in two areas of the balearic islands and comparison with ethnobotanical uses in human medicine.

This paper presents the results of an ethnobotanical study centred in veterinarian uses in two Catalan Pyrenean regions (Alt Empordà -AE- and High River Ter Valley -AT-, Iberian peninsula) and two Balearic Islands areas (Formentera -FO- and northeastern Mallorca -MA-). In the areas studied, 97 plant species have been claimed to be useful for veterinary purposes. A total of 306 veterinary use reports have been gathered and analysed. The ten most reported plants are Tanacetum parthenium (24 use reports), Parietaria officinalis (15), Ranunculus parnassifolius (14), Meum athamanticum (13), Olea europaea (13), Quercus ilex (12), Ruta chalepensis (12), Sambucus nigra (10) and Thymus vulgaris (10). According to comprehensive reviews, a high number of novelties for plant ethnoveterinary are contributed: 34 species and one subspecies, 11 genera, and three families have not been reported in previous works in this field, and 21 species had only been mentioned once. Several ethnoveterinary uses are coincidental with those in human medicine. Although ethnoveterinary practices are less relevant than in the past in the territories considered, as in all industrialised countries, the knowledge on plant properties and applications is still rich and constitutes a large pool of evidence for phytotherapy, both in domestic animals and humans.

Ethnobotany of Mallorca (Balearic islands): a multidisciplinary approach.

In this communication, we provide some basic methodological and practical ideas for plant knowledge comparisons among different predefined natural regions of the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, in the frame of an ongoing project in this area. The final goal of this work is to present a tool to find out to what extent plant knowledge is similar in the different regions. We use an uncommon approach to ethnobotanical studies in terms of multidisciplinary methodology. We base our arguments on social anthropology methods, using a diversity index (the Sorensen similarity coefficient), and we also explain the botanical part of the investigation. Our preliminary results reveal few differences among the three natural regions considered on the island, which we believe could find their explanation in geographic, botanical and cultural aspects.

A phylogenetic road map to antimalarial Artemisia species.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The discovery of the antimalarial agent artemisinin is considered one of the most significant success stories of ethnopharmacological research in recent times. The isolation of artemisinin was inspired by the use of Artemisia annua in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2015. Antimalarial activity has since been demonstrated for a range of other Artemisia species, suggesting that the genus could provide alternative sources of antimalarial treatments. Given the stunning diversity of the genus (c. 500 species), a prioritisation of taxa to be investigated for their likely antimalarial properties is required. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Here we use a phylogenetic approach to explore the potential for identifying species more likely to possess antimalarial properties. Ethnobotanical data from literature reports is recorded for 117 species. Subsequent phylogenetically informed analysis was used to identify lineages in which there is an overrepresentation of species used to treat malarial symptoms, and which could therefore be high priority for further investigation of antimalarial activity. RESULTS: We show that these lineages indeed include several species with documented antimalarial activity. To further inform our approach, we use LC-MS/MS analysis to explore artemisinin content in fifteen species from both highlighted and not highlighted lineages. We detected artemisinin in nine species, in eight of them for the first time, doubling the number of Artemisia taxa known to content this molecule. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that artemisinin may be widespread across the genus, providing an accessible local resource outside the distribution area of Artemisia annua.

Beyond food and medicine, but necessary for life, too: other folk plant uses in several territories of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.

BACKGROUND: Ethnobotanical academic research, particularly in European industrialised countries, has been, and is, mostly focused on folk uses of food and medicinal plants. Nevertheless, other uses, as may well be supposed, account for a significant portion of these folk uses. In the Catalan linguistic domain, a considerable amount of ethnobotanical work has been produced, but to date almost nothing has been published on these other plant uses. METHODS: We basically used the method of semistructured interviews to collect data on names, knowledge and use of plants in the above-mentioned fields from 759 informants in three Catalonian (Alt Empordà, Montseny and Ripollès) and two Balearic (Formentera and Mallorca) areas. We identified the plants quoted by the informants and prepared herbarium vouchers. We analysed and compared the results obtained. RESULTS: Information has been collected on 401 genera, 552 species, 81 subspecies and four varieties, belonging to 122 families, totalling 4137 use reports for popular non-food and non-medicinal uses (classified in 14 modalities), and designated with 1303 folk Catalan names. The informant consensus factor is 0.87, accounting for a consistent and robust dataset. CONCLUSION: Contrarily to what could be thought a priori, and irrespective of the fact that some uses are declining or changing, non-medicinal and non-food folk plant uses strongly persist in the territories considered, are highly considered by their practitioners, and may even imply some economic revenues.

Ethnobotany of medicinal plants used in Eastern Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Mediterranean Sea).

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: This paper represents the first large-scale ethnobotanical study in the island of Mallorca, and provides significant information on pharmaceutical plant uses, built up from interviews with native people from this touristic hotspot, demonstrating its ethnopharmacological importance. AIM OF THE STUDY: To collect, analyse and evaluate the ethnobotanical knowledge concerning medicinal plants in a north-eastern Mallorcan area (municipalities of Artà, Capdepera and Son Servera; 298 km2, 31,764 inhabitants). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed semi-structured interviews with 42 informants (mean age 77; 40% women, 60% men), identified the plant taxa reported and analysed the results, comparing them with those found in the current Mallorcan ethnobotanical information and in other territories. RESULTS: The informants reported data on 121 human medicinal plants representing 64 botanical families. Around 45 medicinal uses reported, concerning 37 species, have not or have very rarely been cited as medicinal. An index of medicinal importance is proposed. CONCLUSIONS: All efforts addressed to compiling ethnobotanical information in industrialised or touristised areas such as Eastern Mallorca are still valuable. New possibilities can be explored to give practical value to Mallorcan ethnobotanical data in the frame of considering traditional plant knowledge as part of the islanders' lifestyle and healthy habits.

Ethnobotany of the Alt Empordà region (Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula): plants used in human traditional medicine.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: This paper provides significant ethnobotanical information on pharmaceutical plant uses from a tourist and industrialised region, where some degree of acculturation exists, so that there is urgency in recording such data. AIM OF THE STUDY: To collect, analyze and evaluate the ethnobotanical knowledge about medicinal plants in a north-eastern Iberian region (Alt Empordà, 1358 km(2), 129,160 inhabitants). METHODOLOGY: We performed 101 semi-structured interviews with 178 informants (mean age 69; 71% women, 29% men), identified the plant taxa reported and analyzed the results, comparing them with those from other territories. RESULTS: The informants reported data on 518 species. Of these, 335, belonging to 80 botanical families, were claimed as medicinal. This work is focused on human medicinal plant uses, which represent 98% of the pharmaceutical uses (3581 out of 3643 use reports). Around 800 medicinal uses, concerning 200 species, have not, or have very rarely been cited as medicinal; of these, 32 uses of 30 species have been reported by three or more independent informants. CONCLUSIONS: The folk knowledge about medicinal plant use is still alive in the studied region, and a number of scarcely reported plant uses has been detected, some of them with promising phytotherapeutical applications.