An ethnobotanical study on medicinal plants in Erzincan, Turkey

Abstract

Indigenous people living in eastern regions of Turkey are, still using traditional treatment methods with medicinal plants. The region is important both in terms of plant diversity and traditional uses of medicinal plants. Traditional use is decreasing day to day, but traditional treatment methods still comes before modern treatment methods. The present study carried out during April to September 2010 in Erzincan (Turkey) by interviewing medicinal plant holders and the people to determine the most used medicinal plants reveals. Latin names, local names, used parts and preparation methods of 49 species from 29 families. The largest families are: Asteraceae (8 taxa), Lamiaceae and Rosaceae (6 taxa) and Fabaceae, Lauraceae and Zingiberaceae (2 taxa). The number of medicinal plant taxa that were used to treat the diseases are diuretic (11), sedative (11), liver (9), stomach (8), skin (7), gastrointestinal (7), cardiovascular (6), blood pressure (5), diabetics (4) and cholesterol (4). Single uses of the medicinal plants are generally preferred for treatments.