Ethnobotanical study on the medicinal plants in the Mainarde Mountains (central-southern Apennine, Italy)

New documentation of the uses of plants in the popular medicine of the Mainarde Mountain, a protected area of the central-southern Apennine characterised by a high floristic richness, is here reported.

Field data were collected through semi-structured and open interviews with native People between 2011 and 2014. The plants were identified and vouchers specimens were scanned to create a Virtual Herbarium. The Ethnobotanicity Index (EI), the Relative Importance Index (RI) and the Fidelity Level Index (FL) were calculated. The plant uses surveyed in the study area were compared with those described in medical and ethnobotanical literature.

Seventy-one interviews were conducted, the age range of the informants was between 21 and 98 years. The inventory included 106 taxa belonging to 45 families; among these, 87 were wild species and 20 were cultivated species. The uses recorded were 429, among these, 69.1% of the uses concerned internal applications to treat digestive system disorders, infections and respiratory system disorders mainly, while 31.9% concerned external applications, especially to treat skin/subcutaneous cellular tissue disorders and injuries. In particular, 17 new uses and 16 unusual and rarely mentioned plants are documented.

The data collected support evidence on traditional uses for plant in the Apennine. Findings from medical flora and from new or rare medical uses reinforce the usefulness of such research efforts.