4.5 Article

Traditional knowledge in semi-rural close to industrial areas: ethnobotanical studies in western Girones (Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula)

Journal

Publisher

BMC
DOI: 10.1186/s13002-019-0295-2

Keywords

Ethnobotany; Ethnoflora; Girones; Medicinal uses; Plant uses; Traditional knowledge

Funding

  1. Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan government) [2014SGR00514, 2017SGR1116]
  2. Institut d'Estudis Catalans [PRO2017-S02-VALLES]
  3. Universitat de Barcelona (APIF 2015-2018)
  4. Spanish government [CGL2017-84297-R]
  5. CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)

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BackgroundThe western Girones is a district located in NE Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula). This area comprising 186.55km(2) and 10,659 inhabitants is composed of 5 municipalities encompassing 29 villages, located in the hydrographic basins of the Ter and Llemena rivers.MethodsFollowing the methodology based on the semi-structured interviews, we carried out 40 interviews with 57 informants, 31 were women and the remaining 26 were men, with an average age of 78.6years.ResultsIn the present study, data from 316 taxa (301 angiosperms, 8 gymnosperms, and 7 pteridophytes) belonging to 89 botanical families were collected. The interviewed informants referred 3776 UR of 298 taxa, 1933 (51.19%) of them corresponding to the food category, 949 (25.13%) to the medicinal ones, and 894 (23.68%) to other uses. In addition, 581 vernacular names for 306 species, subspecies, and varieties have also been collected.ConclusionsThese results reveal the validity of traditional knowledge in the studied area, which can be seriously threatened by the loss of its rural condition and its proximity to industrialized areas.

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