Botanical and medicinal profile of aromatic and medicinal plants: Case of the Gharb region, Morocco

Abstract

Context: Medicinal plants remain a source of medical care in developing countries in the absence of an effective medical system. Aims: To establish the list and ethnobotanical characteristics of the most used plants in the Gharb region. Methods: A survey was conducted on more than 704 subjects from the region of which 52.5% were women. The average age of these informants was 41.57 ± 0.51 years and 82.95% were married. Results: The results of this study made it possible to draw up a catalog composed of 187 plant species, divided into 156 genera and grouped into 71 families. Otherwise, 47.44% of respondents confirmed having confidence in traditional medicine. The calculation of the use value showed that the latter varies between 1 and 9 possible uses. However, the Relative Frequency of Citation showed that some species display significant values reaching 9.49% for the species Eucalyptus globules Labill. In addition, the consensual factor of the survey showed a strong association between the most used species like Eucalyptus globules Labill.; Origanum compactum Benth.; Mentha pulegium L; Lavandula dentata L; Chenopodium ambrosioide L.; Marrubium vulgare L., Allium sativum L. and diseases treated by these plants, namely digestive and respiratory diseases. Conclusions: Phytotherapy is undoubtedly the main adopted medicine by the local population of the Gharb region, especially for the treatment of digestive diseases. Myrtaceae, Lamiaceae and Zingiberaceae, represent the most family's plants mentioned by the respondents.