Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution
, Volume 59, Issue 5, pp 739-754
First online:
Abstract
An ethnobotanical field study
focused on traditional uses of medicinal plants, wild food plants, and
mushrooms was conducted in 37 villages in the Gollak region of eastern
Kosovo. Interviews with 66 elderly informants were conducted using
standard ethnobotanical methods. The uses of 92 vascular plants and 6
mushrooms species belonging to 47 different families were recorded.
Mainly infusions and decoctions were quoted as folk medicinal
preparations and the most commonly quoted plant medicinal uses referred
to diseases of the respiratory system, skin, and gastrointestinal tract.
Comparison of the collected data with the ethnobotanical findings of
previously conducted studies in the surrounding Western Balkan areas
showed that, even if more than the half of Gollak’s wild botanical
genera quoted as medicines used are the same in Serbia and in Northern
Albania, commonalities between the actual medicinal plant applications
recorded in the present study and those reported for the other areas are
extremely scarce. This may confirm the richness of the bio-cultural
heritage of the Western Balkan region and the urgent need to conduct
cross-cultural comparative field ethnobiological studies.
