title: Ethnobotanical study on the medicinal plants in the Mainarde Mountains (central-southern Apennine, Italy).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  New documentation of the uses of plants in the popular medicine of the Mainarde Mountain, a protected area of the central-southern Apennine characterised by a high floristic richness, is here reported.
  
  
  METHODS
  Field data were collected through semi-structured and open interviews with native People between 2011 and 2014. The plants were identified and vouchers specimens were scanned to create a Virtual Herbarium. The Ethnobotanicity Index (EI), the Relative Importance Index (RI) and the Fidelity Level Index (FL) were calculated. The plant uses surveyed in the study area were compared with those described in medical and ethnobotanical literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-one interviews were conducted, the age range of the informants was between 21 and 98 years. The inventory included 106 taxa belonging to 45 families; among these, 87 were wild species and 20 were cultivated species. The uses recorded were 429, among these, 69.1% of the uses concerned internal applications to treat digestive system disorders, infections and respiratory system disorders mainly, while 31.9% concerned external applications, especially to treat skin/subcutaneous cellular tissue disorders and injuries. In particular, 17 new uses and 16 unusual and rarely mentioned plants are documented.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data collected support evidence on traditional uses for plant in the Apennine. Findings from medical flora and from new or rare medical uses reinforce the usefulness of such research efforts.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, Contrada Fonte Lappone snc, I-86090 Pesche (IS), Italy. Electronic address: fortini@unimol.it.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fortini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, Contrada Fonte Lappone snc, I-86090 Pesche (IS), Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Marzio
authors.affiliation: Istituto Centrale per la Demoetnoantropologia, MIBACt, Piazza Marconi 8-10, I-00144 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Guarrera
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, Contrada Fonte Lappone snc, I-86090 Pesche (IS), Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iorizzi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019448:Ethnobotany; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D028321:Plant Preparations
keywords: Ethnobotany; Italy; Medicinal plants; Traditional knowledge