Abstract
The present work summarises preliminary results of an ethnobotanical study in the Rhodope Mountains. The aim was to assess the traditional home use of medicinal plants for herbal tea by local people and to estimate the threats to the Balkan endemic Clinopodiumdalmaticum. Semi-structured interviews with local informants from 15 localities in Central and Eastern Rhodope Mountains were performed in 2015 and 2018. As a result, the most used plant species were listed. The major source of plants was recorded as being gathered from the wild. The plants, known with the local names “wild mint” and “white mint”, were identified as Clinopodiumdalmaticum from dried specimens presented by informants in Central Rhodopes. A frequent collection from wild populations of C.dalmaticum in Central Rhodope Mts. (Smoljan region) was revealed along with just a few cases of cultivation close to the studied sites.
Highlights
The Rhodopes are located in the southern part of Bulgaria and Northern Greece
Clinopodium dalmaticum appears to be popular amongst local people in the studied sites of Smoljan region, (Figs 4, 5, Table 1)
Even though C. dalmaticum is not listed in the Medicinal Plant Act of Bulgaria (2000), it is collected for herbal tea and as a medicinal plant (Table 1, Fig. 5)
Summary
The Rhodopes are located in the southern part of Bulgaria and Northern Greece. The mild climate and the geomorphological history of the mountain contribute to its high biological diversity with numerous rare and endemic species (Petrova and Vladimirov 2010). Even though a process of depopulation of Bulgarian villages in recent decades is a fact, the Rhodopes remain the most inhabited mountain in Bulgaria (Mladenov and Ilieva 2012). With diverse habitats (Assenov et al 2016) and vivid traditions with rapid development of tourism (Lulcheva and Aleksandrov 2017). For this reason, urgent efforts for preservation of its bio-cultural diversity are necessary. Micromeria dalmatica Benth.) is a Balkan endemic species occurring only in Bulgaria, Greece, Crete and Montenegro (Euro+Med PlantBase 2011).
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