Ethnobotany of medicinal plants used for making herbal teas in coastal Syria

Naji Sulaiman

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Syria is a Mediterranean country located on a connection geographical point ofthree continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa, where diversity of cultures has been mixedtogether along the history. The area between Mesopotamia and Mediterranean is an oldand rich region in folk medicine knowledge, but there is a lack of studies to documentthis knowledge. Our study was carried out in the north-western part of Syria borderingthe Mediterranean Sea with 193 km including coastal plains and mountains up to 1,500m above sea level. The study focuses on ethnobotanical documentation of medicinalplants used in the form of a tea as well as an analysis of significant part of beverageculture of the local people, which includes herbal teas used for both medicinal andrecreational purposes. Between December 2017 and February 2018, 42 informants from32 geographical points distributed along the study area were interviewed. In total, 49medicinal plant species were reported to be used in the form of a tea. In total, we received303 use reports, which were categorized into 13 ailment categories. Although most of theplants investigated were used separately, 26 kinds of herbal mixtures used for makingteas were documented. The data were analysed through calculation of the species UseValue, Informant Agreement Ratio, and Cultural Value Index. Use value index wascalculated to give a numerical value to using of the plant species, Informant AgreementRatio was calculated to let us know the agreement between informants' reports, while theCultural Value Index showed us the most important species which could indicate thespecies with promising economic value.The study lead to better understanding of folk medicine in the study area,moreover, it contributed to documenting the diversity of medicinal plant species used asa tea, additionally, our study highlighted some important species for the futurepharmacological studies which could be done.

Keywords

Ethnobotany, recreational tea, infusion, folk medicine, Syria, herbal tea, herbal mixtures

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 4. 5. 2018

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: doc. Ing. Zbyněk Polesný, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme / field:
Tropical Agriculture / Tropical Crop Management and Ecology