The virtues of being peripheral, recreational, and transnational: local wild food and medicinal plant knowledge in selected remote municipalities of Calabria, Southern Italy

Abstract

Background: The Italian "Strategy for Inner Areas" includes a series of actions to avoid depopulation of rural areas by safeguarding the territory from hydrogeological instability and triggering development. Such strategy classified each municipality according to the distance to a centre defined as a town where certain services are provided. This article analyses the ethnobotanical knowledge in four villages distant from a centre. Moreover, it discusses the effect of a millennium-old sacred natural site (SNS), the Certosa of Serra San Bruno, on the local ethnobotanical knowledge.Methods: Sixty semi-structured interviews were conducted among elderly inhabitants of two peripheral and two ultra-peripheral Calabrian villages in 2017 and 2018. The interviews focused on the use of local wild and semi-wild plants currently gathered, for both culinary and medicinal purposes, and the modes of preparation and consumption.Results: Our study reveals that in Calabria ethnobotanical knowledge is better preserved when it can contribute to household food security in contexts of remoteness and extremely poor economic conditions or when relative well-being allows spending time foraging as a recreational activity. Moreover, we found peculiar ethnobotanical practices in Serra San Bruno which may have been introduced by the monastic community and may have contributed to the creation of a "glocal" ethnobotany by introducing knowledge from other European contexts. Conclusions : In conclusion, the "Strategy for InnerAreas" should target the rich ethnobotanical traditional knowledge still present in Calabria as it may represent a powerful tool for achieving sustainable development of peripheral and ultraperipheral areas.

An Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants in Mersin (Turkey)

“… b Different usage, the new plant uses were marked as bold. (1) Akaydin et al, 2013 , (2) Ari et al, 2018, (3) Bulut et al, 2017 , (4) Everest and Ozturk, 2005 , (5) Fakir et al, 2016 , (6) Gunes et al, 2017 , (7) Gurdal and Kultur, 2013 , (8) Guzel et al, 2015 , (9) Sargin, 2015 , (10) Sargin and Buyukcengiz, 2019 , (11) Yesilada et al, 1993 , (12) Agelet and Vallès, 2003 , (13) Akerreta et al, 2007a , (14) Akerreta et al, 2007b , (15) Axiotis et al, 2018 , (16) Bellia and Pieroni, 20,015, (17) Benítez et al, 2010 , (18) Benítez et al, 2012 , (19) Calvo and Cavero, 2014 , (20) Calvo et al, 2011 , (21) Camejo-Rodrigues et al, 2003 , (22) Carrió and Vallès, 2012 , (23) Cavero et al, 2011a , (24) Cavero et al, 2011b , (25) Cornara et al, 2009 , (26) De Natale and Pollio, 2007 , (27) González et al, 2010 , (28) Gras et al, 2019 , (29) Guarrera et al, 2005 , (30) Łuczaj et al, 2019 , (31) Matejic et al, 2020 , (32) Mattalia et al, 2020a , (33) Mattalia et al, 2020b , (34) Mattalia et al, 2020c , (35) Mautone et al, 2019 , (36) Menale and Muoio, 2014 , (37) Mustafa et al, 2012 , (38) Mustafa et al, 2015 , (39) Mustafa et al, 2020 , (40) Novais et al, 2004 , (41) Papageorgiou et al, 2020 , (42) Parada et al, 2009 , (43) Petrakou et al, 2020 , (44) Pieroni, 2000 , (45) Pieroni et al, 2002 , (46) Pieroni, 2017 , (47) Rigat et al, 2007 , (48) Rigat et al, 2013 , (49) …”

“…Plants that have been recorded in previous ethnobotanical studies in Turkey and other Balkan and Mediterranean countries are also presented in Table 1 , Table 2 ( Agelet and Vallès, 2003 ; Akerreta et al, 2007a ; Akerreta et al, 2007b ; Axiotis et al, 2018 ; Bellia and Pieroni, 2015 ; Benítez et al, 2010 ; Benítez et al, 2012 ; Calvo and Cavero, 2014 ; Calvo et al, 2011 ; Camejo-Rodrigues et al, 2003 ; Carrió and Vallès, 2012 ; Cavero et al, 2011a ; Cavero et al, 2011b ; Cornara et al, 2009 ; De Natale and Pollio, 2007 ; González et al, 2010 ; Gras et al, 2019 ; Guarrera et al, 2005 ; Łuczaj et al, 2019 ; Matejic et al, 2020 ; Mattalia et al, 2020a ; Mattalia et al, 2020b ; Mattalia et al, 2020c ; Mautone et al, 2019 ; Menale and Muoio, 2014 ; Mustafa et al, 2012 ; Mustafa et al, 2015 ; Mustafa et al, 2020 ; Novais et al, 2004 , Papageorgiou et al, 2020 ; Parada et al, 2009 ; Petrakou et al, 2020 ; Pieroni, 2000 ; Pieroni et al, 2002 ; Pieroni, 2017 ; Rigat et al, 2007 ; Rigat et al, 2013 ; Sansanelli et al, 2017 ; Sari´c-Kundali´c et al, 2010 ; Tuttolomondo et al, 2014 ; Vinagre et al, 2019 ; Vitasović Kosić et al, 2017 ; Zivkovic et al, 2020 ) The medicinal uses of the species in Mersin were compatible with previous findings; such as Asphodelus aestivus Brot. (wounds), Cydonia oblonga Mill.…”

“We Became Rich and We Lost Everything”: Ethnobotany of Remote Mountain Villages of Abruzzo and Molise, Central Italy

“…Moreover, an informant in Pescopennataro provided a recipe for bronchitis using pomegranate skin, dry figs, apple, sugar, bay leaves, and barley boiled together, which is similar to ones reported in Calabria (Mattalia et al 2020).…”

Ethnobotanical Review and Dataset Compiling on Wild and Cultivated Plants Traditionally Used as Medicinal Remedies in Italy

“…Several plants (196) were used for healing wounds: a poultice made with the leaves of Plantago major L. [ 53 , 57 ], warmed leaves of Malva sylvestris L. [ 32 , 79 ], cataplasm with the crushed seeds of Linum usitatissimum L. [ 41 , 57 ], direct application of the resin of Pinus sp.pl. [ 68 , 90 ], and rubbing with the flower oil of Hypericum perforatum L. [ 69 , 82 ] were some of the most popular vulnerary remedies.…”