An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants in Karliova (Bingol-Turkey)

This study aims to identify wild plants collected for medical purposes by the local people of Karliova District located in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and to determine the uses and local names of these plants. A field study had been carried out for a period of approximately 4 years (2013-2016). During this period, 99 vascular plant specimens were collected. Among them, 91 species are wild and 8 species are cultivated plants. Demographic characteristics of participants, names of the local plants, their utilized parts and preparation methods were investigated and recorded. 99 plants were found to be used for medical purposes before in the literature analysis of the plants used in our study, while 9 plants were found to have no literature records. In Turkey, local plant names display differences especially due to local dialects. The plants used in Karliova are known by the same or different local names in various parts of Anatolia. In the research area, local people were found to use 99 plants from 26 families for curative purposes. The medicinal uses of Stenotaenia macrocarpa Freyn & Sint., Inula helenium L., Scorzonera incisa DC., Tripleurospermum caucasicum (Willd.) Hayek, Astragalus chamaephaca Freyn, Geranium libanoticum Schenk, Rhinanthus serotinus subsp. aestivalis (N.W.Zinger) Dostal, Verbascum songaricum Schrenk. and Bunium elegans (Fenzl) Freyn that we found were used in our study area and recorded for the first time. These plants, used for the treatment of various diseases, are abundantly found in this region. Drying of the medicinal plants enabled the local people to use them in every season of the year.