Traditional Plants Used for Medicinal Purposes in Güroymak (Bitlis/Turkey) District

Abstract

This study, which was conducted between 2020 and 2021 to record the traditional medicinal plant usage culture of the inhabitants of Güroymak (Bitlis), was the first to be conducted in the district. Face-to-face interviews with individuals with advanced ethnobotanical knowledge were conducted in the villages (29) of the district, and the medicinal plants which were used were gathered and identified. The information gathered as a result of the interviews with 120 participants was recorded for this purpose. As a result of the study, it was observed that 60 taxa from 26 families were used to treat 30 different diseases. The most used medicinal plants were from the family “Asteraceae” (13 taxa), followed by “Lamiaceae” (8 taxa), “Rosaceae” (7 taxa) and “Polygonaceae (3 taxa)”. The usage value (UV) was calculated for each species. Malva neglecta, Rosa canina, Crataegus pseudoheterophylla, Crataegus monogyna, Juglans regia, Crataegus orientalis, Rumex scutatus, Celtis tournefortii, Alcea setosa, and Taraxacum kurdiciforme were the most commonly used taxa in the study area. Furthermore, diseases for which medicinal plants were used were classified using The International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC), accepted by the WHO, and the Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) values for each disease category were calculated. Diseases with high ICF values are digestive problems (27 taxa). This is followed by the respiratory and skin disease categories (11 taxa for each).