Ethnobotanical knowledge of plant species of the North-East of Morocco, with three provinces as a case study: Al Hoceima, Nador, and Jerada

• Fatima-Zahra Mir ^[1] ; Halima Smaili ^[1] ; Abderrahmane Merzouki ^[1]
  1. [1] Abdelmalek Essaâdi University

     Abdelmalek Essaâdi University

     Marruecos

     
• Localización: Mediterranean Botany, ISSN-e 2603-9109, Vol. 45, Vol. 2, 2024
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This study focuses on taxa found in the Northeastern part of Morocco and cited in Ibn Al Baytar’s book “Al Jam’ li-Mufradat al-Adwiya wa’l-Aghdiya” (The Book of Simple Drugs), revealing that 15.78% of the simples in his manuscript are recognized by the local population. A total of 241 taxa were identified during the surveys, with 221 of these referenced in Ibn Al Baytar’s manuscript and an additional 20 taxa discovered during the investigation.The main objective of this study is to determine the recognition of these taxa in three provinces of Northeastern Morocco, and document their traditional uses (medicinal or non-medicinal), their modes of preparation and administration, the plant parts used. The incorporation of Ibn Al Baytar’s work serves to provide a historical backdrop, enriching the understanding of this legacy and the evolution of ethnobotanical knowledge in the region. All the data have been collected through conducting an open-ended, semi-structured interviews with randomly selected individuals. The informant consensus factor (FIC) was calculated to identify the level of agreement among informants regarding the use of medicinal plants for specific disease groups.During these eth nobotanical surveys, 1,177 persons were interviewed. The recorded taxa belong to 66 families with 1,264 uses mentioned in the three provinces. The results obtained confront us with the idea that there is a decline of traditional knowledge. They reveal that 32.12% of the local population considers itself ignorant of the uses of plants to cure illness, and that 66.78% prefer modern medicine despite possessing some knowledge of traditional medicinal plants. However, 790 medicinal uses recorded were classified according to the WHO’s international Classification of diseases (ICPC-2, International Classification of Primary Care), and 474 other uses were recorded, along with the transcription of new vernacular names for 107 taxa. Additionally, this study includes a Jaccard Index of similarity with other Moroccan studies, revealing the geographical factor on traditional knowledge. This confirms the importance of ethnobotanical studies as it plays an important role in preserving the reservoir of indigenous knowledge from being lost over time.