Medicinal ethnobotany of wild woody plants: A cross-cultural comparison around Georgia-Turkey border, The Western Lesser Caucasus
Authors: Kazancı Ceren , Oruç Soner , Mosulishvili Marine 
Published: September 2020

Background

The Mountains of the Western Lesser Caucasus with its rich plant diversity, multicultural and multilingual nature host diverse ethnobotanical knowledge related to medicinal plants. However, medicinal ethnobotany and the factors shaping the patterns of plant knowledge and use in the region have not yet been investigated broadly. Doing so could show the variations between communities and highlight the salient medicinal plant species. This study aimed to determine and discuss the similarities and differences of medicinal ethnobotany among people living in highland pastures on both sides of the Georgia-Turkey border.

Methods

During the 2017 and 2018 summer transhumance period, 119 participants, (74 in Turkey, 45 in Georgia) were interviewed with semi-structured questions. The data was structured in use-reports (URs) following the ICPC classification. Cultural Importance (CI) Index, Informant Consensus Factor (FIC), Use diversity (UD), shared/separate species-use combinations, as well as literature data were used for comparison.

Results

63 native wild woody plant species were documented, nearly half of which are in common on both sides of the border, culminating in the report of 267 distinct species-use combinations. Only 7% of these use incidences are shared between both sides of the border. Around 63% of the reports had not been previously mentioned specifically in the literature. Only 11 species had similar or same use reports in both countries, namely Picea orientalis, Pinus sylvestris var. hamata, Berberis vulgaris, Sambucus nigra, Vaccinium arctostaphylos, Vaccinium myrtillus, Tilia rubra subsp. caucasica, Crataegus monogyna, Rosa canina, Rosa hirtissima and Sorbus aucaparia. 40% of species used in both countries were found to have more than one part of the plant valued for medicinal use. While in Georgia the most common way of using shrubs and trees as medicine is drinking the water infusion of fruits and leaves, drinking the water decoction of fruits and roots is seen in Turkey. 60% of the salient 20 genera in both countries have use reports in at least three medicinal use categories. In both countries, the most cited reports with high agreement are related to treatments of digestive disorders. Patterns of medicinal knowledge appear to be connected with more than one cultural factor, in particular ethnolinguistic diversity, cultural background, and access to multilingual written folk and scientific literature, or probably a combination of various factors.

Conclusion

Considering the regions’ floral similarity, common historical-cultural contact, and similar livelihood strategies, shared ethnomedicinal knowledge across the border is quite low. Even though the impacts of accessing multilingual folk and scientific literature are likely to be significant, the factors that shape the medicinal knowledge patterns of these communities are shown to be complex and dynamic, needing further research into intracultural diversity and socio-economical conditions, as well as the political history across the border.
Keywords: Medicinal Ethnobotany, The Caucasus, Medicinal woody plant, Transhumant people, Cross cultural research, Border ethnobotany, Georgia, Turkey, Biocultural conservation.