[ most used medicinal plant species of Dashtestan [Bushehr province], with emphasize on their traditional uses]

ABSTRACT

Dashtestan, with 6371 km[2] area, is situated at 85 km in the east of Bushehr city. Influence of some important ecological factores, such as neighboring to the Persian Gulf, passing two rivers of dalaki and shapoor and also presence of southern continuation of Zagros Mountains are leading to high importance of region in plant biodiversity view point. Study on the medicinal plant flora of the region and introducing some information of folk medicine and the most useful medicinal species were objected here. All ancient regions of the Dashtestan were discovered using appropriate geographical maps and then the plant species were gathered from various localities respectively. Vernacular information of collected plants and their usages in the folk medicine were questioned from well experienced people. In final stage the collected plants were identified scientifically after deposition in the herbarium. A total of 85 plant species representing 70 genera and 39 families are identified in the area. The most abundant families of the region are Asteraceae [10 species] and Lamiaceae [8 species] respectively, and the largest genera is Ziziphus [Rhamnaceae] with 6 species. The most folk medicine usage of them is in the remediation of digestive diseases. Traditional usage of medicinal plant is more accepted among the people of area. The most of medicinal herbs are used mainly in remediation of digestive diseases. Considering the culture of society and attention of people to medicinal plants, it may be an attractive object from the farmacological view point