Traditional Medicinal Plants Used in Dermatologic Disorders in Ardahan, Iğdır and Kars

Abstract

Ethnobotany is briefly defined as a"human-plant relationship". Mankind has used plants as a food source since ancient times, resorted to healing and accumulated their experiences. About 12.000 plant species grow in Turkey. The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined the number of herbal medicines as approximately 1900 and it has been determined that approximately 20,000 plants are grown in Turkey, 600 of which are used for therapeutic purposes. This investigation was conducted to document the species, family, and local names, usage types and localities of medicinal plants utilized by people living in and around Ardahan, Iğdır and Kars provinces between 2020-2021 for dermatologic disorders. To that end, medicinal plant species utilized by the local mankind for therapeutic aims were collected and detected. The visitations were organised to the investigation regions at regular intervals, and survey investigations were realized by interviewing and talking with the local people one-on-one. 82 medicinal plant taxa belonging to 31 plant families utilized in dermatologic disorders were collected from Ardahan, Iğdır and Kars provinces and their surroundings. Of these, 68 species are wild and 14 are cultivated plants. It has been reported that the most commonly utilized medicinal plant families in dermatologic disorders are Asteraceae (12), Scrophulariaceae (7), Boraginaceae (5), Fabaceae (5), and Salicaceae (5). As a conclusion, despite the deep-rooted history in such regions, the transmission and use of traditional knowledge have remained limited.