Ethnopharmacological survey of medicinal herbs in Jordan, the Ajloun Heights region

The study of local knowledge about natural resources is becoming increasingly important in defining strategies and actions for conservation of medicinal plants. This study therefore sought to collect information from local population concerning the use of Ajloun Heights region medicinal plants; iden...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ethnopharmacology 2007-03, Vol.110 (2), p.294-304
Main Authors: Aburjai, Talal, Hudaib, Mohammad, Tayyem, Rabab, Yousef, Mohammed, Qishawi, Maher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Ajloun
Biological and medical sciences
Data Collection
ethnobotany
Ethnopharmacology
Female
General pharmacology
herbal medicines
Humans
ICF
Interviews as Topic
Jordan
Male
Medical sciences
Medicinal plants
medicinal properties
Medicine, Arabic
Middle Aged
Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Phytotherapy
Plants, Medicinal
surveys
Traditional medicine
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Summary:The study of local knowledge about natural resources is becoming increasingly important in defining strategies and actions for conservation of medicinal plants. This study therefore sought to collect information from local population concerning the use of Ajloun Heights region medicinal plants; identify the most important species used; determine the relative importance of the species surveyed and calculate the informant consensus factor (ICF) in relation to medicinal plant use. Data collection relied predominantly on qualitative tools to record the interviewee's personal information and topics related to the medicinal use of specific plants. Our results revealed that 46 plant species grown in the study region are still in use in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases. Most of the locals interviewed dealt with well-known safe medicinal plants such as Achillea falcata, Matricaria aurea, Majorana syriaca, Allium sativum and Allium cepa. The use of moderately unsafe or toxic plants was noted to be practiced by practitioners and herbalists rather than the locals. These plants include Ecballium elaterium, Euphorbia hierosolymitana, Mandragora autumnalis and Citrullus colocynthis. Kidney problems scored the highest ICF while Crocus hyemalis was the plant of highest use value. Searching the literature evidenced some concordance with the solicited plant uses mentioned by the informants.
ISSN:0378-8741
1872-7573
DOI:10.1016/j.jep.2006.09.031