title: Analysis of traditional knowledge about medicinal plants utilized in communities of Jirisan National Park (Korea).
abstract: The purpose of this study is to analyze and record traditional knowledge of medicinal plants utilized in communities of Jirisan National Park.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data was collected through participant observations and in-depth interviews with semi-structured questionnaires. Quantitative comparative analyses were accomplished through informant consensus factor (ICF), fidelity level (FL), and social network analysis (SNA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 1660 ethnomedicinal practices recorded from the communities were classified into 89 families, 215 genera, and 274 species. The representative families were Asteraceae (10.02%) followed by Fabaceae (8.7%), Araliaceae (7.2%), and Rosaceae (6.7%). On the whole, 34 kinds of plant-parts were used and prepared in 73 various ways by the people for medicinal purposes. The informant consensus factor (ICF) values in the ailment categories were physical pain (0.95), respiratory system disorders (0.91), veterinary ailments (0.90), nervous system disorders (0.89), and diabetes (0.88). In terms of fidelity levels, 48 plant species showed 100% of fidelities. The social network analysis (SNA) between ailments and the plant families within all communities of this study, most of plant families were located closer to the center of the network for the three ailments groups. Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Pinaceae and Rosaceae as depicted by the rectangular-shaped region, were positioned more closely within the center of the network figure and possess more versatility as a treatment for various ailments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The utilization of the social network analysis is used as a new tool for various interpretations to ethnomedicinal knowledge within a local community. Through this study, we are confident that the useful value of the social network analysis has been proven and the three dimensional relationships of these components will extend beyond the existing understanding of ethnomedicinal knowledge within local communities around the world.
authors.affiliation: School of Alternative Medicine and Health Science, Jeonju University, 303 Cheonjam-ro, Wansan-gu, Jeonju 560-759, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: hyunk@jj.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Hyun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: School of Alternative Medicine and Health Science, Jeonju University, 303 Cheonjam-ro, Wansan-gu, Jeonju 560-759, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Mi-Jang
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D020834:Ethnopharmacology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055670:Medicine, Korean Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D028321:Plant Preparations
keywords: Ethnomedicinal knowledge; Fidelity level; Informant consensus factor; Jirisan National Park; Social network analysis