Research

Circum-Mediterranean cultural heritage and medicinal plant uses in traditional animal healthcare: a field survey in eight selected areas within the RUBIA project

Andrea Pieroni^1,2 , Maria Elena Giusti³ , Caterina de Pasquale³ , Cinzia Lenzarini³ , Eleonora Censorii³ , María Reyes Gonzáles-Tejero⁴ , Cristina Patricia Sánchez-Rojas⁴ , Jose M Ramiro-Gutiérrez⁴ , Melpomeni Skoula⁵ , Chris Johnson⁵ , Anaya Sarpaki⁵ , Athena Della⁶ , Demetra Paraskeva-Hadijchambi⁶ , Andreas Hadjichambis⁶ , Mohammed Hmamouchi⁷ , Said El-Jorhi⁷ , Mohamed El-Demerdash⁸ , Mustafa El-Zayat⁸ , Omar Al-Shahaby⁸ , Zahia Houmani⁹ and Mekious Scherazed⁹

¹  SCH Group, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University and Research Centres, Postbus 8060 6700 DA Wageningen, The Netherlands

²  Medical Biosciences Research Focus Group, University of Bradford, Richmond Rd., Bradford BD71DP, UK

³  Department of Art, Music and Performance, University of Florence, Via della Pergola, 48, 50121 Firenze, Italy

⁴  Department of Botany, University of Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain

⁵  Park for the Preservation of Flora and Fauna, Technical University of Crete, Plateia Ag. Markou, Terma Ag. Titou, 73100 Chania, Greece

⁶  Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) of Cyprus, P.O. Box 22016, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus

⁷  Institut National des Plantes Médicinales et Aromatiques, B.P 6388 Rabat Institut, Rabat, Morocco

⁸  Department of Botany, Mansoura University, 60 Al-Gamorhria St., 35516 Mansoura, Egypt

⁹  Department of Agronomy, Agro-Veterinary and Biology, Blida University, Douirete Route de Soumaa, 09100 Blida, Algeria

author email corresponding author email

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2006, 2:16doi:10.1186/1746-4269-2-16

Published:	24 March 2006

Abstract

During the years 2003–2005, a comparative ethnobotanical field survey was conducted on remedies used in traditional animal healthcare in eight Mediterranean areas. The study sites were selected within the EU-funded RUBIA project, and were as follows: the upper Kelmend Province of Albania; the Capannori area in Eastern Tuscany and the Bagnocavallo area of Romagna, Italy; Cercle de Ouezanne, Morocco; Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche Natural Park in the province of Huelva, Spain; the St. Catherine area of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt; Eastern and Western Crete, Greece; the Paphos and Larnaca areas of Cyprus; and the Mitidja area of Algeria.

One hundred and thirty-six veterinary preparations and 110 plant taxa were recorded in the survey, with Asteraceae and Lamiaceae being the most quoted botanical families. For certain plant species the survey uncovered veterinary phytotherapeutical indications that were very uncommon, and to our knowledge never recorded before. These include Anabasis articulata (Chenopodiaceae), Cardopatium corymbosum (Asteraceae), Lilium martagon (Liliaceae), Dorycnium rectum (Fabaceae), Oenanthe pimpinelloides (Apiaceae), Origanum floribundum (Lamiaceae), Tuberaria lignosa (Cistaceae), and Dittrichia graveolens (Asteraceae). These phytotherapeutical indications are briefly discussed in this report, taking into account modern phytopharmacology and phytochemistry.

The percentage of overall botanical veterinary taxa recorded in all the study areas was extremely low (8%), however when all taxa belonging to the same botanical genus are considered, this portion increases to 17%. Nevertheless, very few plant uses were found to be part of a presumed "Mediterranean" cultural heritage in veterinary practices, which raises critical questions about the concept of Mediterraneanism in ethnobotany and suggests that further discussion is required.

Nearly the half of the recorded veterinary plant uses for mammals uncovered in this survey have also been recorded in the same areas in human folk medicine, suggesting a strong link between human and veterinary medical practices, and perhaps also suggesting the adaptive origins of a few medical practices. Since most of the recorded data concern remedies for treating cattle, sheep, goats, and camels, it would be interesting to test a few of the recorded phytotherapeuticals in the future, to see if they are indeed able to improve animal healthcare in breeding environments, or to raise the quality of dairy and meat products in the absence of classical, industrial, veterinary pharmaceuticals.