Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by local Bedwins in the Badia region of Jordan

An ethnobotanical study was conducted as a part of the local knowledge study which was carried out in 2010. The target participants were the Livestock owners in the arid Jordanian Badia region. The objective of the study is to document the traditional knowledge in using wild plants in treating health problems in order to conserve this valuable knowledge from loss; to identify the key plant species used and to calculate the Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) for the health disorder categories.

The data was collected from interviewing 70 participants, 21% of them were women, the women interviews were very important as they are considered experts in the field of the local medicinal plants. The participants were interviewed face to face and few focus groups were conducted. A questionnaire that helps in the data gathering was prepared, video recording was taken to show the procedures that the local communities were using in their process.

A total of 48 plant species are used by local Bedwins for medicinal purposes, the majority of these are native to the study area, e.g. Artemisia judaica Lour., Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad., Ducrosia anethifolia Boiss., Ecballium elaterium (L.) A.Rich., Paronychia spp and Rheum palaestinum Feinbrun. The study showed that the plant species with the highest use value is Artemisia herba-alba. Moreover, the highest value of Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) was scored for Jaundice disease (0.87) followed by Gastrointestinal disorders (0.86) and dental disorders (0.81). This may indicate the high incidental occurrences of these diseases and the lack of dental care services in the rural areas.