Abstract
BackgroundAn ethnobotanical and medical study was carried out in the Navarre Pyrenees, an area known both for its high biological diversity and its cultural significance.As well as the compilation of an ethnopharmacological catalogue, a quantitative ethnobotanical comparison has been carried out in relation to the outcomes from other studies about the Pyrenees. A review of all drugs used in the area has also been carried out, through a study of the monographs published by the institutions and organizations responsible for the safety and efficacy of medicinal plants (WHO, ESCOP, and the E Commission of the German Department of Health) in order to ascertain the extent to which the Navarre Pyrenees ethnopharmacology has been officially evaluated.MethodsFieldwork was carried out over two years, from November 2004 to December 2006. During that time we interviewed 88 local people in 40 villages. Information was collected using semi-structured ethnobotanical interviews and the data was analyzed using quantitave indexes: Ethnobotonicity Index, Shannon-Wiener's Diversity, Equitability and The Informant Consensus Factor. The official review has been performed using the official monographs published by the WHO, ESCOP and the E Commission of the German Department of Health.ResultsThe ethnobotanical and medical catalogue of the Navarre Pyrenees Area comprises 92 species, of which 39 have been mentioned by at least three interviewees. The quantitative ethnobotany results show lower values than those found in other studies about the Pyrenees; and 57.6% of the Pyrenees medical ethnobotany described does not figure in documents published by the above mentioned institutions.ConclusionThe results show a reduction in the ethnobotanical and medical knowledge in the area of study, when compared to other studies carried out in the Pyrenees. Nevertheless, the use of several species that may be regarded as possible sources for pharmacological studies is reported here such as the bark of Sambucus nigra, the roots of Fragaria vesca, or the leaves of Scrophularia nodosa. These species are not currently approved by the WHO, ESCOP and the E Commission of the German Department of Health, institutions that, apart from encouraging the greater use of plants for medicinal purposes, may help in the design of development plans for these rural areas by validating their traditional medicine.
Highlights
An ethnobotanical and medical study was carried out in the Navarre Pyrenees, an area known both for its high biological diversity and its cultural significance.As well as the compilation of an ethnopharmacological catalogue, a quantitative ethnobotanical comparison has been carried out in relation to the outcomes from other studies about the Pyrenees
The use of several species that may be regarded as possible sources for pharmacological studies is reported here such as the bark of Sambucus nigra, the roots of Fragaria vesca, or the leaves of Scrophularia nodosa
Verbena officinalis is used in folk medicine as an expectorant and anti-rheumatic and anti-inflammatory substance. Some of these uses have been proven scientifically [87], WHO, ESCOP and the E Commission have not published any monographs that ensure their safe and effective application. This ethnobotanical and medical study carried out in the Navarre Pyrenees region provides examples of several interesting medicinal plant uses worthy of pharmacological research, as is the case of Sambucus nigra, Fragaria vesca and Scrophularia nodosa
Summary
An ethnobotanical and medical study was carried out in the Navarre Pyrenees, an area known both for its high biological diversity and its cultural significance.As well as the compilation of an ethnopharmacological catalogue, a quantitative ethnobotanical comparison has been carried out in relation to the outcomes from other studies about the Pyrenees. The Pyrenees are a mountain range, of 435 km in length from east to west, which divides the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of Europe It presents a great variety of climates and soils, which in turn produce a rich ecology and flora (3500 taxa in total [5], an important figure when read in relation to the 7500 species that have been catalogued in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands as a whole, among the highest rates in Europe [6]). Ethnobotanical research in the Pyrenees has been carried out only in some regions of the Eastern and Central areas [6,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49]; with regard to the Western area, only a few divulgative publications about medicinal flora or edible plants have appeared, but these studies were not produced using an ethnobotanical methodology [50,51,52,53,54,55]
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