J Ethnopharmacol. 2017 Apr 18;202:208-224. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2017.03.014. Epub 2017 Mar 18.
- 1
- Department of Botany, University of Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain. Electronic address: asmae@correo.ugr.es.
- 2
- Department of Botany, University of Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain. Electronic address: gbcruz@ugr.es.
- 3
- Department of Botany, University of Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain. Electronic address: mreyes@ugr.es.
- 4
- Department of Botany, University of Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain. Electronic address: jmolero@ugr.es.
- 5
- Flora
research, Etnobotany and Ethnopharmacology. Laboratory of Applied
Botany, Faculty of Sciences, University Abdelmalek Essaâdi, BP 2121,
Tétouan 93000, Morocco. Electronic address: abdermerzouki@gmail.com.
Abstract
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE:
Transmission
of traditional knowledge over time and across culturally and
historically related territories is an important topic in
ethnopharmacology. Here, we contribute to this knowledge by analysing
data on medicinal
uses in two neighbouring areas of the Western Mediterranean in relation
to a historical text that has been scarcely mentioned in historical
studies despite its interest.
AIM OF THE STUDY:
This paper discusses the sharing of popular knowledge on the medicinal uses of plants between eastern Morocco and eastern Andalusia (Spain),
focusing on one of the most useful plant families in the Mediterranean
area: Lamiaceae. Moreover, we used the classical work of Ibn al-Baytar
(13th century CE) The Compendium of Simple Medicaments and Foods as a
basis to contrast the possible link of this information, analysing the
influence of this historical text on current popular tradition of medicinal plant use in both territories.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
For data collection, we performed ethnobotanical field research in the eastern part of Morocco, recording current medicinal
uses for the Lamiaceae. In addition, we systematically reviewed the
ethnobotanical literature from eastern Andalusia, developing a database.
We investigated the possible historical link of the shared uses and
included in this database the information from Ibn al-Baytar's
Compendium. To compare the similarity and diversity of the data, we used
Jaccard's similarity index.
RESULTS:
Our field work provided ethnobotanical information for 14 Lamiaceae species with 95 medicinal
uses, serving to treat 13 different pathological groups. Of the total
uses recorded in Morocco, 30.5% were shared by eastern Andalusia and
found in Ibn al-Baytar's work. There was a higher similarity when
comparing current uses of the geographically close territories of
eastern Morocco and eastern Andalucía (64%) than for eastern Morocco and
this historical text (43%). On the other hand, coincidences between
current uses in eastern Andalusia and the ones related in the Compendium
are lower, 28%.
CONCLUSIONS:
The
coincidence of the current ethnobotanical knowledge in the two
territories is high for the Lamiaceae. Probably the shared historical
background, recent exchanges, information flow, and the influence of the
historical herbal texts have influenced this coincidence. In this
sense, there is a high plant-use overlap between Ibn al-Baytar's text
and both territories: nearly half of the uses currently shared by
eastern Morocco and eastern Andalusia were included in the Compendium
and are related to this period of Islamic medicine, indicating a high
level of preservation in the knowledge of plant usage. The study of 14
species of Lamiaceae suggests that this classical codex, which includes a
high number of medicinal plants and uses, constitutes a valuable bibliographical source for comparing ancient and modern applications of plants.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
Andalusia; Ethnomedicine; Historical studies on medicinal plants; Ibn al-Baytar; Labiatae; Morocco
