ECOLOGICAL AND FLORISTIC STUDY ON THE MEDICINAL PLANTS IN AL--QASSIM REGION, SAUDI ARABIA

Folk medicine is used in many countries. Arab countries, especially the Arabian Peninsula, are famous for using folk medicine. In local communities, traditional and folk medicine relies on plants that have medicinal properties. In Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia 61 species of medicinal plants have been listed. The number of plant species recorded in Al-Qassim region is 24, 32, 45, 27 and 35 species in the central, northern, southern, eastern and western, respectively. Some listed plants are used to treat digestive diseases, blood diseases, bone and joint diseases, eye diseases, obstetrics & gynecology, oral & dental diseases, respiratory system diseases, skin diseases or urinary system diseases. Asteraceae is the most frequent plant families. Whole plant is the most common used part of medicinal plants. While, the largest number of recorded species is perennials. Biodiversity indicators were calculated, and many soil factors were analyzed (sand, silt, clay, pH, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, chlorides, sodium, calcium, magnesium content and electrical conductivity). For processing and organizing data, multivariate statistical analyzes (TWINSPAN and DCA) were used.