title: Ethnobotanical survey of herbal remedies traditionally used in Kohghiluyeh va Boyer Ahmad province of Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medicinal plants are an important element of medical system. These resources are usually regarded as part of cultural traditional knowledge. We present for the first time the results of an ethnobotanical survey in Kohghiluyeh va Boyer Ahmad province of Iran, conducted between 2008 and 2010. This information could be the basis of an evidence based investigation to discover new drugs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ethnobotanical data were analyzed by use-reports in addition important indices like relative frequency of citation (RFC) and cultural importance index (CI) were calculated. Totally 23 informants were interviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study reports 138 traditionally used plant species, belonging to 52 plant families from this province. Asteraceae and Lamiaceae are the dominant locally used families. The highest number of species and application were reported for digestive system disorder, metabolic disorder and respiratory system, respectively. The part of the plant most frequently used was the aerial part (31.9%), leaves (14.8%) and fruits (11.7%). The plants are used both for medicinal and non-medicinal purposes. Daphne mucronata Royle. and Teucrium polium L. have the largest value of relative frequency of citation and cultural importance index, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Kohghiluyeh va Boyer Ahmad has good ethnobotanical potential for medicinal plants. This study is the first contribution to the ethnobotany of this region. We have gathered from this province some considerable knowledge about local medicinal plants for treating common health problem that is ready to be further investigated in the laboratory.
authors.affiliation: Traditional Medicine and Materia Medica Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 14155-6354, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mosaddegh
authors.forename: Farzaneh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Naghibi
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moazzeni
authors.forename: Atefeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pirani
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Esmaeili
mesh_terms: D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D019448:Ethnobotany; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007492:Iran; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008517:Phytotherapy; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D028321:Plant Preparations