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Traditional medicine in Banat region (Romania): results of an ethnobotanical survey

2010; Thieme Medical Publishers (Germany); Volume: 76; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1055/s-0030-1264419

1439-0221

Diana Antal, S Biriescu, Carmen Maximiliana Canciu,

Medicinal plant effects and applications

Empirical knowledge about the medicinal properties of plants is a fundamental source for drug discovery. Due to urbanisation and industrialization, orally transmitted folk knowledge on medicinal plants (MPs) is dramatically decreasing in most European populations. This situation is bound to affect profoundly the scientific community interested in natural products, and demands written preservation of traditional knowledge. We aimed to contribute to this task by documenting the MPs preparations and usages from Banat county (Western Romania). Data were collected in the small town of Buzias, based on spontaneous citation of plant species, followed by structured interviews following pre-designed questionnaires. Nineteen members of the local community were interviewed. Records were made of the main usages, extractive process, doses, and degree of contentment with the results of the treatment. The results of the ethnopharmacological fieldwork were interpreted by means of semi-quantitative methodologies. We employed the Use Value (UV) method and the Corrected Percentage of Agreement related to the Main Uses (cAMU), with the purpose of quantifying the importance of medicinal species and families [1]. Thirty species, belonging to 21 families were identified. Infusion (70%) and maceration (16%) are the most frequent extractive methods; macerations employed water, petroleum, lard, and water-ethanol mixtures. Species with the highest cAMU values are used to treat digestive disorders, skin lesions, diabetes, rheumatism and hypertension. Particular attention was drawn to the stems of Cuscuta sp., successfully used to treat rheumatism (as petroleum macerate). This natural product may inspire further research in the quest for new anti-inflammatory compounds.