A comprehensive ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants for 80 villages in Trabzon (Türkiye)

The current study targeted to perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of medicinal plant taxa used in folk medicine in Trabzon. Due to its historical significance, diversity of plant species, and hosting a wide range of cultures, the Turkish city of Trabzon has significant ethnobotanical potential. Ethnobotanical data including family name, scientific name, local name, used parts, therapeutic uses, preparation methods, administration routes, and cited locations were gathered by face-to-face interviews with 645 participants mostly over 50 years old. The quantitative analyses were executed by the determination of frequency values of citation (FC), use value (UV), fidelity level (FL), and informant consensus factor (ICF). A total of 119 medicinal plant taxa belonging to 55 families were recorded with therapeutic uses for more than 100 different diseases. The most commonly used plant part and administration routes were detected as leaves (32.43%) and oral application (51.58%), respectively. The highest ICF value was assigned for the skin diseases (ICF: 0.96). Piceae orientalis possessed the highest value of FC (82.326%), while Plantago major owned the highest value of UV (0.873). Tilia rubra subsp. caucasica, Vaccinium myrtillus, and Nicotiana tabacum were the remarkable taxa due to their FL value (100%), besides the high number of user reports. The present study supplies comprehensive ethnobotanical qualitative and quantitative data (FC, UV, FL, and ICF) from 80 villages in Trabzon. The obtained ethnobotanical data are expected both provide the preliminary information to discover novel herbal drugs and passing on to next generations as an important heritage.