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High–Demand Medicinal Plants of Herbal Markets in Mashhad, Iran

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Abstract

Herbal markets are important components of complementary public health systems in rural and urban communities. Ethnobotanical studies of herbal markets are necessary and important to document local plant use and assess conservation concerns. We investigated high–demand medicinal plants traded in herbal markets of Mashhad, Iran, between December 2017 and September 2018. Fifty informants were interviewed using a semi–structured questionnaire, and the data were analyzed using quantitative ethnobotanical indices. A total of 83 plant products, including 61 single medicinal plant species and 22 herbal preparations, were documented. The highest Use Value (UV) and Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) values were recorded for Echium amoenum Fisch. & C.A. Mey., the most cited and most valuable plant species. The majority of the recorded medicinal plant species were used for treating digestive system problems. The use of four medicinal plants was documented for the first time in Mashhad. Novel medicinal applications were recorded for 11 plant species. Moreover, six species were identified as adulterated or substituted plants. The herbal markets in Mashhad are enriched with diverse medicinal plants having medicinal and socioeconomic value. These plants should be the focus of future research for phytochemical, pharmacological, and clinical studies, as well as studies on the conservation of medicinal flora.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank all interviewed people for their hospitality and kindness. We also would like to appreciate Mahnaz Mahvelati for her help and accompaniment during field surveys. We are also grateful to Farshid Memariani (FUMH) for his help in preparing Floristic data. This research was financially supported by the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (Grant no. 53064–3). The authors declare no conflict of interest. Authors’ contributions are as follow: KM—interview with informants, scientific identification of voucher specimen, manuscript preparation; AP—supervising the study, manuscript revision; HM—supervising the study, manuscript revision; MRJ—scientific identification of voucher specimen, manuscript revision; and RWB—manuscript revision.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Herbarium FUMH, Department of Botany, Research Center for Plant Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Khadijeh Motahhari, Atefeh Pirani, Hamid Moazzeni & Mohammad Reza Joharchi

  2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Atefeh Pirani

  3. Department of Ethnobotany, Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia

    Rainer W. Bussmann

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  1. Khadijeh Motahhari
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  2. Atefeh Pirani
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  3. Hamid Moazzeni
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  5. Rainer W. Bussmann
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Correspondence to Atefeh Pirani.

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Motahhari, K., Pirani, A., Moazzeni, H. et al. High–Demand Medicinal Plants of Herbal Markets in Mashhad, Iran. Econ Bot 76, 414–433 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-022-09557-4

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