Abstract
It is vital to record and preserve indigenous knowledge on plants to prevent loss of this valuable information. The indigenous knowledge about herbal drugs can provide us with useful information, such as their phytotherapeutic activities for the treatment of various diseases. This study investigated the indigenous knowledge regarding the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of human diseases and disorders in Khalil Abad region, Zarrin Dasht County, Fars province (Iran) from January to May 2017. Questionnaires were distributed among the subjects and traditional herbal information were recorded. The medicinal plants in this region are predominantly bush, including Zataria multiflora Boiss, Peganum harmala L., Alhagi persarum Boiss. & Buhse and Astragalus sp. The results of this study indicate that the residents of Khalil Abad village use various medicinal plants for nutritional and medicinal purposes. This is the first report of the ethnobotany of the region and the medicinal plants of indigenous knowledge of this region could be used as a source for new drugs.
Highlights
Medicinal plants are an important part of every country's natural resources and the collection and codification of traditional information about natural resources is a requirement of every human society
So far, no studies have been done on the ethnobotany in the region, and this study recorded large number of new effects of medicinal herbs
It should be noted that some of the plants that inhabit in Khalil Abad village used for nutritional and medicinal purposes were the plants of tropical regions
Summary
Medicinal plants are an important part of every country's natural resources and the collection and codification of traditional information about natural resources is a requirement of every human society. Horizon e-Publishing Group the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of various diseases dates back to the beginning of human civilization [2]. According to World Health Organization statistics, 84% of the population of developing countries primarily use native medicinal plants for primary health care. The indigenous knowledge about medicinal plants plays an important role in the local health care system [5,6]. Increase in the cost of synthetic drugs along with its side effects led to the emergence of the use of natural medicinal resources for human well-being across the globe [9,10]. In 2006, the trade value of medicinal and aromatic plants was estimated $ 60 billion, which is still expected to expand significantly by 2050 [13] due to the increasing interest in herbal drugs [14,15]
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