Abstract
An ethnobotanical field study focused on traditional uses of medicinal plants, wild food plants, and mushrooms was conducted in 37 villages in the Gollak region of eastern Kosovo. Interviews with 66 elderly informants were conducted using standard ethnobotanical methods. The uses of 92 vascular plants and 6 mushrooms species belonging to 47 different families were recorded. Mainly infusions and decoctions were quoted as folk medicinal preparations and the most commonly quoted plant medicinal uses referred to diseases of the respiratory system, skin, and gastrointestinal tract. Comparison of the collected data with the ethnobotanical findings of previously conducted studies in the surrounding Western Balkan areas showed that, even if more than the half of Gollak’s wild botanical genera quoted as medicines used are the same in Serbia and in Northern Albania, commonalities between the actual medicinal plant applications recorded in the present study and those reported for the other areas are extremely scarce. This may confirm the richness of the bio-cultural heritage of the Western Balkan region and the urgent need to conduct cross-cultural comparative field ethnobiological studies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bernard HR (2002) Research methods in anthropology: qualitative and quantitative approaches. Altamira, Walnut Creek
Çavolli R (1997) Gjeografia regjionale e Kosovës. Enti i Teksteve dhe i Mjeteve Mësimore i Kosovës, Prishtinë
De Natale A, Pezzati G, Pollio A (2009) Extending the temporal context of ethnobotanical databases: the case study of the Campania region (Southern Italy). J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 5:7
Gentili R, Gentili E, Sgorbati S (2009) Crop changes from the XVI century to the present in a hill/mountain area of eastern Liguria (Italy). J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 5:9
Ghirardini MP, Carli M, del Vecchio N, Rovati A, Cova O, Valigi F, Agnetti G, Macconi M, Adamo D, Traina M, Laudini F, Marcheselli I, Caruso N, Gedda T, Donati F, Marzadro A, Russi P, Spaggiari C, Bianco M, Binda R, Barattieri E, Tognacci A, Girardo M, Vaschetti L, Caprino P, Sesti E, Andreozzi G, Coletto E, Belzer G, Pieroni A (2007) The importance of a taste. A comparative study on wild food plant consumption in twenty-one local communities in Italy. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 3:22
González-Tejero M, Casares-Porcel M, Sánchez-Rojas CP, Ramiro-Gutiérrez JM, Molero-Mesa J, Pieroni A, Giusti ME, Censorii C, de Pasquale C, Della D, Paraskeva-Hadijchambi D, Hadjichambis A, Houmani Z, El-Demerdash M, El-Zayat M, Hmamouchi M, El-Johri S (2008) Medicinal plants in the Mediterranean area: synthesis of the results of the project Rubia. J Ethnopharmacol 116:341–357
Hadjichambis A, Paraskeva-Hadjichambi D, Della A, Giusti ME, De Pasquale C, Lenzarini C, Censorii E, Gonzáles-Tejero M, Sanchez-Roja C, Ramiro-Gutierrez J, Skoula M, Johnson C, Sarpaki A, Hmamouchi M, El-Johri S, El-Demerdash M, El-Zayat M, Pieroni A (2008) Wild and semi-domesticated food plants consumption in seven circum-Mediterranean areas. Int J Food Sci Nutr 59:383–414
ISE (International Society of Ethnobiology) (2006) Code of ethics. Available at: http://www.ethnobiology.net/ethics.php. Accessed 26 April 2009
Jarić Z, Popović Z, Mačukanović-Jocić M, Djurdjević L, Mijatović M, Karadžić B, Mitrović M, Pavlović P (2007) An ethnobotanical study on the usage of wild medicinal herbs from Kopaonik mountain central Serbia. J Ethnopharmacol 111:160–175
Jordanov D (1963–1979) Flora NR Bulgaria I–VII. BANU, Sofia
Kathe W, Honnef S, Heym A (2003) Medicinal and aromatic plants in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. BfN, Bonn
Krasniqi F (1972) Shumska vegetavija brdskoc regiona Kosova. Studime nr. 27, Prishtina
Krasniqi F (1982) Promene u flori i vegetacije Kosova poslednjih decenija i mere njihove zashtite. Makedonska Akademija na Naukite i Umetnostite, Skopje III: 59–67
Krasniqi F (1998) Veçoritë e florës dhe të vegjetacionit të Kosovës dhe problemi i mbrojtjes së tyre. Kërkime. ASHAK 6:51–66 (in Albanian)
Lange D (1998) Europe’s medicinal and aromatic plants: their use, trade and conservation. TRAFFIC International, Cambridge
Leonti M, Casu L, Sanna F, Bonsignore L (2009) A comparison of medicinal plant use in Sardinia and Sicily-De Materia Medica revisited? J Ethnopharmacol 121:255–267
Leonti M, Cabras S, Weckerle C, Solinas MN, Casu L (2010) The causal dependence of present plant knowledge on herbals-Contemporary medicinal plant use in Campania (Italy) compared to Matthioli (1568). J Ethnopharmacol 130:379–391
Leporatti ML, Ghedira K (2009) Comparative analysis of medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in Italy and Tunisia. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 5:31
Leporatti ML, Ivancheva S (2003) Preliminary comparative analysis of medicinal plants used in the traditional medicine of Bulgaria and Italy. J Ethnopharmacol 87:123–142
Łuczaj Ł (2008) Archival data on wild food plants used in Poland in 1948. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 4:4
Łuczaj Ł (2010) Changes in the utilization of wild green vegetables in Poland since the 19th century: a comparison of four ethnobotanical surveys. J Ethnopharmacol 128:395–404
Łukasz Ł (2010) Plant identification credibility in ethnobotany: a closer look at polish ethnographic studies. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 6:36
Menković N, Šavikin K, Tasić S, Zdunić G, Stešević D, Milosavljević S, Vincek D (2011) Ethnobotanical study on traditional uses of wild medicinal plants in Prokletije mountains (Montenegro). J Ethnopharmacol 133:97–107
Milojević B (1988) The use of plants in the folk life in the region of Rtanj in the east Serbia. Lekovite Sirovine 7:89–109 (in Serbian)
Mustafa B (1998) Basic characteristic of flora and vegetation of Kosovo and danger of their disappearance. Albanian J Nat Tech Sci 5:115–121
Paparisto K, Vangjeli J, Ruci B, Mullaj A, Qosja X (1988–2000) Flora e Shqipërisë, vol 1–4. ASHASH, Instituti i Kërkimeve Biologjike, Tiranë
Pardo-de-Santayana M, Tardío J, Blanco E, Carvalho AM, Lastra JJ, San Miguel E, Morales R (2007) Traditional knowledge of wild edible plants used in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal): a comparative study. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 3:27
Péntek J, Szabó A (1985). Plant kingdom and traditional human life in the Calata Area (Kalotaszeg). Kriterion Publ. House, Bucharest. In Hungarian; English abstract available at: http://adatbank.transindex.ro/html/alcim_pdf8883.pdf. Accessed 18 May 2011
Pieroni A (2000) Medicinal plants and food medicines in the folk traditions of the upper Lucca Province, Italy. J Ethnopharmacol 70:235–273
Pieroni A (2007) People and mountains in Kelmend. Documentation of a field study on traditional knowledge in the Northern Albanian Alps. Wageningen University, Wageningen
Pieroni A (2008) Local plant resources in the ethnobotany of Theth, a village in the Northern Albanian Alps. Genet Resour Crop Evol 55:1197–1214
Pieroni A (2010) People and plants in Lëpushë. Traditional medicine, local foods, and post- communism in a North Albanian village. In: Pardo de Santayana M, Pieroni A, Puri R (eds) Ethnobotany in the new Europe. People, health and wild plant resources. Berghahn, Oxford, pp 16–50
Pieroni A, Giusti ME (2008) The remedies of the folk medicine of the Croatians living in Čičarija, Northern Istria. Coll Anthropol 32:623–627
Pieroni A, Quave C (2005) Traditional pharmacopoeias and medicines among Albanians and Italians in Southern Italy: a comparison. J Ethnopharmacol 101:258–270
Pieroni A, Giusti ME, Münz H, Lenzarini C, Turkovic G, Turkovic A (2003) Ethnobotanical knowledge of the Istro-Romanians of Žejane in Croatia. Fitoterapia 74:710–719
Pieroni A, Dibra B, Grishaj G, Grishaj I, Macai SG (2005) Traditional phytotherapy of the Albanians of Lepushe, Northern Albanians Alps. Fitoterapia 76:379–399
Pieroni A, Giusti ME, de Pasquale C, Lenzarini C, Censorii E, Gonzales-Tejero MR, Sanchez-Rojas CP, Ramiro-Gutierrez JM, Skoula M, Johnson C, Sarpaki A, Della A, Paraskeva-Hadijchambi D, Hadjichambis A, Hmamouchi M, El-Jorhi S, El-Demerdash M, El-Zayat M, Al-Shahaby O, Houmani Z, Scherazed M (2006) Circum-Mediterranean cultural heritage and medicinal plant uses in traditional animal healthcare: a field survey in eight selected areas within the RUBIA project. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 2:16
Pieroni A, Giusti ME, Quave CL (2011) Cross-cultural ethnobiology in the Western Balkans: medical ethnobotany and ethnozoology among Albanians and Serbs in the Pešter plateau, Sandžak, South-Western Serbia. Hum Ecol 39:333–349
Pollio A, De Natale A, Appetiti E, Aliotta G, Touwaide A (2008) Continuity and change in the Mediterranean medical tradition: Ruta spp. (Rutaceae) in Hippocratic medicine and present practices. J Ethnopharmacol 116:469–482
Redžić S (2006) Wild edible plants and their traditional use in the human nutrition in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ecol Food Nutr 45:189–232
Redžić S (2007) The ecological aspect of ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology of population in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Coll Anthropol 31:869–890
Rexhepi F (1994) Vegjetacioni i Kosovës. FSHMN, Universiteti i Prishtinës, Prishtina
Šaric-Kundalić B, Dobeš C, Klatte-Asselmeyer V, Saukel J (2010a) Ethnobotanical study on medicinal use of wild and cultivated plants in middle, South and West Bosnia and Herzegovina. J Ethnopharmacol 131:33–55
Šaric-Kundalić B, Fritz E, Dobeš C, Saukel J (2010b) Traditional medicine in the pristine village of Prokoško lake on Vranica mountain, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sci Pharm 78:275–290
Šaric-Kundalić B, Dobeš C, Klatte-Asselmeyer V, Saukel J (2011) Ethnobotanical survey of traditionally used plants in human therapy of east, North and North-East Bosnia and Herzegovina. J Ethnopharmacol 133:1051–1076
Sejdiu S (1984) Fjalorth etnobotanik i shqipes. Rilindja, Prishtina
Stevens PF (2011) Angiosperm phylogeny website, version 9, June 2008. Available at: http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/. Accessed 10th Feb 2011
Tagarelli G, Tagarelli A, Piro A (2010) Folk medicine used to heal malaria in Calabria (Southern Italy). J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 6:27
Tutin T, Heywood V, Burges N, Valentine D, Walters S, Webb D (1964) Flora Europaea. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Acknowledgments
Special thanks are due to all Gollak’s inhabitants who participated in this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mustafa, B., Hajdari, A., Pajazita, Q. et al. An ethnobotanical survey of the Gollak region, Kosovo. Genet Resour Crop Evol 59, 739–754 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-011-9715-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-011-9715-4