The Ethnobotanical Database of Turkey
Project no. 379 · Status: Kapanmış · 2013
Summary
Ethnobotanical researches are the studies that record the valuable information which have been learned through trial and error and transferred by local people through hundreds of years from generation to generation. Ethnobotanical researches set light to the human-plant relationship. The increasing number of these studies which is scattered within various libraries or electronic sources and cannot be systematically questioned, makes it difficult to access the information. Therefore the aim of this study was to compile ethnobotanical studies which are conducted in Turkey and to record their contents into a database systematically. In the first stage of the study, the ethnobotanical studies conducted in Turkey and published between the years 1928-2014 were gathered together and a bibliography was prepared through the examination of these studies with documentary review method. In the second stage of the study, a web-based database management system was developed in order to transfer ethnobotanical data, and the obtained publications were recorded into the database. Finally, the analysis of the whole data was performed from the query screen of the database. As a result of the scannings, 1758 publications were included to the bibliography. It was found that 113 of the studies were books, 1166 were articles/book chapters, 249 were presentation papers and 230 were postgraduate theses. The studies were also divided as the studies that included plant identification and the studies that did not. According to this, it was determined that 35 books, 270 research articles, 54 review articles, 174 conference papers and 120 thesis were based on plant identification. Among ethnobotanical reference list the contents of 930 of publications were transferred to the database and a total of 81.526 usage records were entered. In this thesis, only the results of research arcticles and full text conference papers based on plant identification were presented. In this context, 64.960 usage records belonging to 339 publications were added. When the recorded data was analyzed, it was determined that there were records from all provinces of our country and a total of 2895 plant taxa had usage records. When the distribution of plants according to their usage purposes was examined, it was determine that the most taxa were used for human health (1902 taxa), food (1404 taxa), fodder (663 taxa), paint (279 taxa), ornament-decorative plant (233 taxa) and animal health (192 taxa), respectively. The most recorded species with ethnobotanical uses were ranked as Urtica dioica L., Rosa canina L., Juglans regia L., Hypericum perforatum L., Plantago major L., Malva sylvestris L. and Malva neglecta Wallr., respectively. With medical purposes plants were recorded mostly for wound healing, diabetes, hemorrhoids and colds. With this database which is the most comprehensive ethnobotanical database prepared in our country so far, it becomes possible to make various and cross-queries according to the name of the plants (Latin or Turkish), localities (region, province, district), used parts, usage purposes or usage types. In addition to the prepared database, an ethnobotanical data collection form was developed and presented to the researchers for use in future studies. Databases are dynamic in nature and can obtain a sustainable feature if supported by new studies and findings. Therefore, to enrich the database with the addition of new studies and unreached publications in the future is important. Thus, it can be a source for the preservation and transfer of ethnobotanical knowledge and cultural heritage in our country.