Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Anatolia: Past, Present and Future Perspectives, Trıne B Schou, Editör, NOVA Science Publishers Inc. , New-York, ss.163-190, 2020
This chapter
provides a summary of ethnopharmacological information on toxic plants
traditionally used by the indigenous people of Van Province, Eastern Anatolia
Region of Turkey. The Van Province located in the eastern part of Turkey is
situated in a green, fertile oasis amid rocky mountains. The landscape of the
Province is overwhelmingly characterized by numerous highlands, lowlands, and
valleys which, with their specific microclimate zones, provided suitable
conditions for evolvement of vast numbers of endemic plant species. For
centuries, these conditions facilitated an establishment of rural settlements
with pastoral farming and extensive uses of local wild plants as food and
medicine by the local population. The rich local flora combined with isolated
traditional tribe culture of Van Province facilitated the development of a
unique plant-based ethnotoxic knowledge, that was based on trial and error and
is orally passed from generation to generation. Although the local flora is
considerably utilized to date, no inventory of the used toxic plants has ever
been created. Numerous plants used in traditional medicine are toxic, however,
no reports on their phytochemical composition and description of traditional
uses have ever been published. Therefore, the objective of this study is to
record the traditional knowledge of medicinal uses of toxic plants of Van
Province to preserve this valuable information. The ethnobotanical data was
collected over five years period (2014-2019) based on structured face-to-face
interviews with local healers (240 informants) recognized for their long
practice in traditional medicine using toxic plants. In total, 46 plant taxa
that belonging to 19 plant families (principally Apiaceae and Ranunculaceae)
were recorded. The study revealed that in traditional medicine, only 33
vernacular (common) names were in use to describe these 46 plant taxa. Out of
the traditionally known 46 ethnotoxic plants only 15 are utilized for medicinal
purposes. The application of toxic plants in folk medicine is based on (i)
strict dose and (ii) utilization of the second fraction of decoction (or
infusion). The highest degree of consensus among the traditional healers was
recorded in regards to the effects of toxic botanicals on nervous system (ICF:
0.99). The ethnobotanical data collected in this study may provide valuable
leads for the identification of novel and efficient pharmaceutical agents.