Herbalists conserve significantly richer ethnomedicinal knowledge as compared to other members communities in central Morocco

Abstract

Background: Ethnobotanical research in the Fez-Meknes region (North-central Morocco), encompassing UNESCO cultural sites like Fez and Meknes, lacks breadth, focusing on the use of medicinal plants to treat specific diseases. This research unveils the plentiful ethnomedicinal knowledge in the region employed to address a wide array of health concerns. The present study aims to investigate both traditional knowledge and medicinal plants among herbalists and populations of central provinces of Morocco. Methods: In this study, 408 non-herbalists and 70 herbalists were interviewed with semi-structured interviews at eleven sampling areas. Ethnobotanical indices and statistics were calculated to explore the gathered data. The unsupervised k-means clustering algorithm, and the Peak Density Detection algorithm were applied for data clustering from non-herbalists and herbalists. Results: Obtained results showed that 82 species belonging to 34 families and 73 genera were recorded. Herbalists cited 67 plant species compared to 56 by non-herbalists and showed greater divergence of knowledge with a 41 species overlap. Origanum compactum Benth. had the highest ethnobotanical index values, and Lamiaceae was frequently used by both groups. High Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) values were observed for digestive system issues. Comparative clustering analysis revealed distinct distribution patterns among herbalists and non-herbalist informants. Conclusions: The study reveals a wealth of traditional knowledge and highlights the importance of using medicinal plants in traditional medicine to treat a range of illnesses. While non-herbalists and herbalists share some understanding of plant uses, herbalists demonstrate unique knowledge. Many plants have adaptable therapeutic uses for a variety of illnesses, and responders offer new applications for medicinal herbs.