The contribution of protected areas to human health. A case study from Djurdjura Biosphere Reserve (Algeria), with new or rarely reported medicinal plants

Abstract

In the protected areas of the Mediterranean Basin, inventories on the ethnomedicinal uses of plants have been carried out both on its northern and southern shores. An outstanding wealth of ancestral knowledge on traditional medicine still exists in the mountainous area of the Djurdjura Biosphere Reserve. An ethnomedicinal survey was performed in the field with 64 informants from the villages of three municipalities, through a semi-structured questionnaire and direct interviews. It is especially illiterate women, without activity, aged over 45 years, which hold the best knowledge about this traditional medicinal practice. Overall, 121 plant species have been identified, with 42 plant species newly recorded. They belong to 108 genera and 56 families. The Lamiaceae are the most mentioned family with 13 species. The majority of these medicinal plants are growing in the wild (79.3%). They are used to treat a wide range of 83 diseases and symptoms. Digestive disorders are the disease group the most treated in the study region, with 63 species. Indigestion and diarrhoea are the most treated ailments by the local population, who mainly use the fresh leaves (48.51%), as infusion or decoction, the most common preparations. From a perspective of conservation and improvement of this ethnobotanical knowledge, the medicinal plants recorded, particularly 12 endemic and/or rare species (e.g. Origanum glandulosum, which cures the highest number of diseases), deserve the greatest conservative attention for their patrimonial and therapeutic values.