Herbals in Iğdır (Turkey), Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan), and Tabriz (Iran)

Abstract

Healing properties of plants are known to the humans since ancient times. The use of natural medicines is an important issue. Medicinal plants are used as medicinal herb juices, raw as salad, in brewing, baking, ointment, and so on. This chapter includes data on the medicinal and aromatic plants of Igdir (Turkey), Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan), and Tabriz (Iran), which have borders touching each other and have similar cultures. The main aim has been to analyze the distribution of the traditional medicinal plant knowledge in these three different sociolinguistic regions. The specific aims are to compare the composition and richness of medicinal ethnofloras and explore the factors that explain the variations. A total of 341 naturally distributed taxa belonging to 65 families are used in the traditional medicine in Igdir (Turkey), Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan), and Tabriz (Iran). These belong to the families Asteraceae (63 taxa), Lamiaceae (39 taxa), Apiaceae (24 taxa), Fabaceae (23 taxa), and Rosaceae (23 taxa). These five families constitute 50.44% of the medicinal and aromatic plant species (MAPS) distributed in three neighboring states. Most common taxa among these are Achillea millefolium L. and Cichorium intybus L. (Asteraceae), Glycyrrhiza glabra L. and Melilotus officinalis (L.) Desr. (Fabaceae), Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill. subsp. orientalis (Uglitzkich) Browicz and Rosa canina L. (Rosaceae), Peganum harmala L. (Nitrariaceae), Plantago major L. (Plantaginaceae), and Urtica dioica L. (Urticaceae). The parts commonly used are leaves (100 taxa), followed by the herb (98 taxa), fruit (57 taxa), and root (54 taxa). Common preparations evaluated are decoction (161 taxa), followed by infusion (72 taxa), fresh (54 taxa), and poultice (40 taxa). Locals in the three states generally use herbal remedies for the treatment of digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular, gynecological, skeletal–muscular, ear, nose and throat, and urogenital disorders as well as in dermal, neurological, and psyschological diseases and mouth and tooth and other ailments. A comparison on the basis of MAPS reveals that in all three areas, four taxa are widely distributed and used almost for the same applications: Glycyrrhiza glabra (for digestive and respiratory systems), Malus sylvestris ssp. orientalis (for respiratory system), Rosa canina (for digestive and urogenital systems), and Urtica dioica (for digestive system). The three neighboring states belonging to three countries show several resemblances from cultural and other aspects. These areas seem to embody a great potential for evaluation of MAPS and interesting folk medicine culture.