ISSN : 2663-2187

An ethnobotanic study of some medicinal plants of the region of Sidi Aissa in Algeria

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Madani Djamila, Hiouani Fatima, Bounab Souhila, Saad ahmed, Smaili Yamina, Abbas Aymen
» doi: 10.48047/AFJBS.7.5.2025.77-105

Abstract

This ethnobotanic study focuses on three sites (Sidi Aissa downtown, Bouti Sayeh, and Beni Ilmane), which are located in the cardinal points of the region of Sidi Aissa. In addition, five medicinal plants, namely Artemisiacampestris, Thymus vulgaris, Artemisiaabsinthium, Mentha × piperita, and Aloysiacitriodora were chosen to survey their therapeutical and culinary uses by the local population. In this regard, 92.8% of the informants tell that most of the species under study are wildplants because of their availability all along the year. On the other hand, 7.2% tell that these species were cultivated. The study aims at valorizing the local population’s knowledgeand knowhow, and at establishing a catalogue of the medicinal and culinary plants. Findings show that the uses of these plants highly differ based on the educational level and the marital status. The lliterate informants (47%) and those residing in the rural milieu (78%) are the most to use the medicinal plants. This is also applicable to those whose incomes are less than 15000 Algerian Dinar (71.43%) and the married ones (81%). As for the therapeutical practices, 59.5% of the local population relies on the traditional medicine while 40.5% choose the modern. Thedecoction is the most used prescription mode, with a rate of 53.8%, followed by the maceration (31.1%), the oil (7.6%), the powder (5.1%), and the extract (2.4%), with a clear preference of the use of leaves (73.9%). The infections of the gastro-intestinal tract are the most issues treated (40.3%) and the oral prescription is the most used method (67.4%). In the end, these results may be a source of information for the scientific research in photochemistry and pharmacology.

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