Medicinal plants in the Mediterranean area: synthesis of the results of the project Rubia.
OBJECTIVE
Within the scope of the European project RUBIA (ICA3-2002-10023), research has been performed on the traditional use and handling of plant species in several Mediterranean countries, Albania, Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Italy, Morocco, and Spain. This paper synthesises the chief results related to the medicinal utilization of those plants.


METHODS
The information has been gathered by means of semi-structured interviews (1256) and techniques of participant observation with 803 informants. In each of the participating countries the study areas were selected by means of uniform criteria defined at the beginning of the study.


CONCLUSIONS
A total of 985 species have been catalogued, of which 406 have medicinal use. This work constitutes the first comparative study performed with ethnobotanical data gathered by a coordinated methodology in the Mediterranean area. An exhaustive list is provided for the species catalogued, indicating the regions where each plant was mentioned.


BACKGROUND
This information underlines the ethnobotanical richness of the region and the need to broaden this study to other areas of the Mediterranean. Furthermore, this constitutes a base for future phytochemical and pharmacological studies which could lead to new therapeutic products.
González-Tejero
M R
MR
Department of Botany, University of Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain. mreyes@ugr.es
Casares-Porcel
M
M
Sánchez-Rojas
C P
CP
Ramiro-Gutiérrez
J M
JM
Molero-Mesa
J
J
Pieroni
A
A
Giusti
M E
ME
Censorii
E
E
de Pasquale
C
C
Della
A
A
Paraskeva-Hadijchambi
D
D
Hadjichambis
A
A
Houmani
Z
Z
El-Demerdash
M
M
El-Zayat
M
M
Hmamouchi
M
M
Eljohrig
S
S
D019083:Mediterranean Region; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D013045:Species Specificity