Traditional and Ethnobotanical uses of medicinal plants by ancient populations in Khabr and Rouchon of Iran

1 Pharmaceutical Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. 2 Herbal and Traditional Medicines Research Center, Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. 3 Young Researcher and elites club, Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran. 4 Kerman University of Medical sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kerman, Iran.


INTRODUCTION
Anthropological studies have shown that a large amount of medical knowledge has remained among indigenous tribes around the world never enter into western pharmacology science.The study of how humans behave in a particular culture and the use of endemic plants in this area can be a valuable source of information.In some sources, this Science has been named as ethnobotany (Pardo-de-Santayana et al., 2010).Considering the value and importance of medicinal plants and despite remarkable advances in the pharmaceutical industry and chemistry and synthesis of drugs, scientific and medical communities' attention focused on the use of natural resources, especially medicinal plants .By revealing the adverse effects of chemical drugs, Use of ethnobotaical knowledge has received much attention in modern civilization (Setzer et al., 2006).
According to variability of medicinal plants in Iran, study of traditional applications provides the possibility of further investigation for researchers.Now this issue is studying as ethnobotany in many parts of the world and in some cases, these studies led to the discovery of new drugs and new compounds in medicine and pharmacy (Koduru et al., 2007).
This experience is result of observation and trial and errors that led to productivity gain medicinal plants in various forms.Studies of the use of plants have a long history as the first writings on medicinal plants dates back about 5000 years ago in Sumerian era (Trivedi and Sharma, 2004).But there is not any reported about verbal knowledge and experience that is stored in various local populations.These valuable and unwritten sources are in danger of obliteration and amnesia.In Iran, diverse population of people has been located in many different areas with much cultural diversity and because they have access to diverse vegetation, has valuable experience in the use of medicinal plants which need to study, protection and utilization.According to the meteorological stations around the region, a variety of cold and dry climates, dry, temperate, arid, hot desert, with mild to moderate influence on the region.This diversity creates different ecosystems that involve diverse vegetation of arid and semiarid forests at altitudes ranging between 3850-1000 meters above sea level (Sharififar et al., 2014).The area under the study,(28°25/ N, 56°38/ E) with an area of 169170 Km2 and height of 1040-3890 m, allocated in the south west of Kerman (fig. 1.).The average annual temperature is about 25.5•C.The lowest annual rainfall is related to the southern part of the region (83.4mm) and the most annual rainfall is related to the northern part with 142 mm.Khabr National Park, on the slopes of Khabr mountain with an altitude of 3851 m, has been recorded on the UNESCO World as a wildlife sanctuary, because of biodiversity due to the high altitude and diverse catchment areas.Geologically, study area rocks are made of sand; limestone schist, salt formation, gray limestones and limestones can be crystallized.The study area has long been taking to consideration by the botanists and Zoologists (Sharififar et al., 2014).Edmondson andMiller in 1975 and1977, have been studied vegetation of area and reported more than 220 plant species from this region in 1980 (Edmonston J 1980).In another report by Pourmirzaii et al (1373) 380 plant species have been introduced.Iran-Nejad et al., (1383) have been reported 451 species from the area (Sharififar et al., 2014).Rajaei and Mohamadi (2012) reported the traditional uses of 92 species belonging to 35 vascular plant families and 78 genera from Hezar mountain (SE of Iran) (Rajaei and Mohamadi, 2012)

EXPERIMENTAL
In order to initial investigation, the geographic Study area map in scale of 1: 30,000 was prepared from the Agricultural Research Organization of Kerman.In order to find the location of the study area we used the topographic maps.Sampling was done according to the weather, climate and vegetation season.Collecting the specimens was conducted in the second half of July until early September.We employed random sampling techniques to identify potential participants and interviewed a total of 85. Profiles of interviewee are presented in Table 2.The women had better knowledge about the medicinal application of plants than men (76.2%).Most people interviewee was in the range 70-61 years old and 60-51 years old and 61.9% of them were illiterate.The data were collected through direct interviews.A questionnaire was administered to the local people (Mainly residents of Dehsard and Koshkuiyeh).The interviews consisted of obtaining the information related to the identification of plants, their vernacular names, their medical uses and the preparation of remedies.The plant samples were recognized according to credible sources (Mozafarian, 2008, Ghahreman, 1378-1999)and kept in the Herbarium of Pharmacy department, Kerman University of Medical Sciences (KF).
According to the results, the largest genus of plants was belonging to Ephedra with 3 species that represent significant biodiversity of the study area.These plants are used especially for digestive and respiratory diseases and then sedative, respectively (Figure 2).The results showed that the most widely used medicinal plant part was leaves and stem (26%) followed by flowers (22%), fruits (18%), seeds (9%) and gum (8%), bulk (4%), roots (3%) (Figure 3).

DISCUSSION
The use of medicinal plants is a special place in Iranian culture.Traditional beliefs of the people, for the safety of medicinal plants and a vast source of natural resources have provided a good platform for the use of medicinal plants in Iranian medical system.Our results showed Lamiaceae, Apiaceae, Rosaceae, Papilionaceae , Asteraceae and Ephedraceae are the most medicinal plants used in this area.A number of medicinal plants such as Achillea, Cotoneaster, Lallemantia, bitter almonds, Tragopogon and Ajugahave been repeated by many of the native people.The results of this study showed similarities to some previous reports but in some cases were different, for example, it could be noted to the well-known medicinal herb thyme Zataria multiflora) which has been reported to posses antioxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-cholinesterase, analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects in literatures (Sharififar et al., 2007;2011, Hosseinzadeh et al., 2000)).This plant is used to the treatment of pain caused by digestive disorders by the native people of the region.In other cases it can be noted to the reduction effects of blood sugar of Ephdra distachya (Konno et al., 1985).While local uses of the plant Achillea eriophora has been studied in fewer resources and only the analysis of the chemical composition of essential oil has been reported (Ghani et al., 2008).Ferula oopoda is another plant that needs to be more studies.It is often seen on the northern snow slopes in mountainous and cold regions of the province.There are no reports in the literature regarding the therapeutic effects of it (Serkerov et al., 1991).In traditional medicine, the people of this area used Ferula oopoda as a sedative digestive pains.Sophora mollis is used for gallbladder disorders, and also for as a laxative.Anti-malaria effects have been reported in the literature (Zhang et al., 2009).In general, the main uses of medicinal plants in study region were in the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory system and also many of them have analgesic effects.A significant number of these plants have been used in both respiratory and gastrointestinal disorders (more than 20% of cases) (figure 2).Therapeutic Uses of respiratory disorders is included cough and mucus.Some of these use cases, as has been pointed out by local people.For example, use of Ephedra spp for the treatment of gastrointestinal disease and stomach ulcers, Acinus graveolens to relieve dry cough and mucus that has also been referred to the use of this plant in traditional medicine of Morocco(Lyoussi B 2000).Another example is the use of Dorema aucher to treat wounds, infections and abdominal pain.This plant in Boyer Ahmad ethnobotany used in the treatment of gastrointestinal infections (Mosaddegh et al., 2012).On the other hand, Drcaocephalum polychaetum used as a poultice to relieve rheumatic pains, and eliminate problems caused by the cold tempered in this area.The use of Agrimonia eupatoria is recommended for the treatment of liver disorders, especially fatty liver.Many studies have been done on this herb in parts of the world and the effects of antioxidant, antibacterial and protects the liver of it has been confirmed (Copland et al., 2003;Yoon et al., 2012).There is no report on the therapeutic effects of this valuable plant in Iran but now the biologic effects of this plant is being studied in the School of Pharmacy of Kerman.Due to the rugged parts of the region, it was not possible to achieve all the plants and their information so this investigation has reported only 50 species and many medicinal plants have not been identified and their ethnobotanical study have not been done in this area .In floristic and vegetation study of this area, the tropical region has been investigated more than (Sharififar et al., 2014).Due to the presence of different climates in Iran, there is different variety of vegetation.On the other hand, because of the existence of different ethnic groups there is a wide variety of different traditions and various ways of local therapies.Numerous studies have been conducted on ethnobotany of various regions of Iran.In a study a total of 21 species belonging to Lamiaceae and Rosaceae family have been reported in Alamutmt., that a number of them, was the endemic of that area.Number of similar species of this study has also been reported from the region of Alamut (Ahvazi, 2007) .A similar study was carried out in Sirjan and 79 species have been reported, some of the plants was similar to the results of this study.But plants such as Adiantum capillus-veneris, Anethumgraveolens, chrysanthemum and Antirrhinum majushave not been reported in flora of Khabr and Rouchon (Sharififar, 2010, Sajadi, 2011).Iranmanesh et al., have reported a total of 30 species that their most important plants are aloe vera, eucalyptus, Ziziphus jujube and Citrullus (Iranmanesh, 2010).Mahdavi and Myrtadzadini (Meymand, 2006) have reported a total of 30 medicinal plants in Shahrbabak (West of Kerman).In the above study most plants belonging to Asteraceae and Caryophylaceae family that was different from recent study.In total, according to available reports, we can use the mentioned medicinal plants in the preparation of various products for the pharmaceutical industry, food industry, new cosmetic it needs to proper management, systematic planned and Pharmacological and biological studies.According to the presence of the old villages with a long history of medicinal use in different parts of Iran, the results of this investigation and similar studies confirm the need for more research.This valuable pharmaceutical information may be forgotten over time.
According to tendency of people to use herbs in these regions and the need for new sources of drugs, the use of local medicinal plants has been studied in Khabr and Ruchun Located in Southwest of Kerman province.Khabr and Ruchun are located in the West of Dehsard Village and south of Koshkuiyeh village.Its local populations have a long history in use of medicinal plants.

Fig. 1 :
Fig. 1: Location of study area in Iran.

Fig. 3 :
Fig. 3: Frequency of plants used in the treatment of various diseases.

Table 1 .
List of medicinal plant species and medical health data in Khabr and Rouchon region in Kerman province.

Table 2 :
Personal characteristics of interviewees.