Plantas medicinais e aromáticas
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Use of Ethnomedicinal Plants by the People Living in the Middle Atlas Mountains in Morocco

Noureddine Hamamouch*

Morocco has a high level of biodiversity and endemism of medicinal plants. However, these plants are threatened by the growing human population and climate change. The loss of medicinal plants will have a potential negative impact on the population who rely heavily on these plants for the treatments of diseases. The objective of the present study was to document ethnomedicinal knowledge use to treat different human ailments from people living in the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Field work was conducted between March and May of 2017. Data was collected from 320 users through a questionnaire survey. Results of the study indicate that people of the Middle Atlas use 44 plant species mostly herbs (66%) for ethnomedicinal purposes. The highest the Informant Consensus Factor value (0.93) was obtained for gastrointestinal problems followed by respiratory infections (0.92), and neurological problems (0.82), and based on the species Use Value, the five most commonly used ethnomedicinal plants species were Thymus vulgaris, Mentha pulegium, Aloysia citriodora, Rosmarinus officinalis, Lavandula dentata and M. rotundifolia. The present study showed that traditional treatment using medicinal plants in widespread in the study area. Protection measures should be taken to conserve precious multipurpose species that are facing overexploitation. Moreover, medicinal plants treating major ailments in the region may be subjected to phytochemical and pharmacological investigations for the identification of bioactive compounds.