http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-1492-0_5
Abstract
The cross-cultural comparison of
local botanical knowledge in the Balkans can help us to understand
cultural transmission among diverse ethnic and/or religious groups and
also foster community-based, sustainable strategies of management of
natural resources and culturally appropriate frameworks for the
revitalization of local biocultural heritage. Results from a
medico-ethnobotanical field study conducted among Albanians,
Macedonians, and Gorani in 41 villages located in the Sharr Mountains in
western Macedonia demonstrate a rich folk plant-based pharmacopoeia,
especially in the domain of herbal teas used mainly for minor
dysfunctions of the respiratory system. Most of the uses recorded among
Macedonians and Gorani were also recorded among Albanians, while a
significant portion of plants quoted by Orthodox Macedonians diverged.
The fact that the Gorani lived very close to the Albanian communities
over the last century, with marriages between the two communities being
commonplace and facilitated by their shared (Muslim) faith, may explain
this phenomenon, considering that herbal knowledge is generally
transmitted by women within the family. A significant portion of study
participants raised concerns regarding the possibility of
overexploitation of a few species due to collecting practices serving
both local and outside (pharmaceutical) markets, while the plant
knowledge of the younger generations seems to be more limite
