Local knowledge of selected wild plant species collected in Agiassos, on Lesvos, Greece

ABSTRACT

The article reports a study of the collection of 20 plant species for agricultural, medicinal, cosmetic, nutritional, technological, and veterinary uses, which are traditionally harvested on Mount Olympus on Lesvos, Greece. The aims of the study were: (1) to summarize the uses of the selected species; (2) to describe the profiles of collectors and their collection practices; and (3) to describe the manner in which traditional ecological knowledge is transmitted. Knowledge of plant uses provided by local collectors during a series of observations and interviews carried out with the use of a semi-structured questionnaire in 2012 was compared with descriptions of the same plant uses in the literature. The results revealed that there were a large number of uses for the plants, more than half of them for nutritional purposes. The greatest number of different uses were for camomile (Matricaria chamomilla), followed by stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). Working farmers tended to mention more uses on average than other collectors. The authors conclude that traditional knowledge of plant collection has been preserved in the rural society on Lesvos and is mainly transmitted by women to people who are active in land management.

EDITORS:

• Kerstin Potthoff, Catriona Turner

KEYWORDS:

• Eastern Mediterranean
• ethnobotany
• human ecology
• traditional knowledge
• useful plants

ORCID

Panayiotis G. Dimitrakopoulos http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8374-4392

Thanasis Kizos http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1526-0919

Notes

1. Decree 67/1981: Peri Prostasias tis aftofious chloridas kai agrias panidos kai kathorismou diadikasias sintonismou kai eleghou tis ereunis epi auton [On the protection of native flora and fauna and the laying down of the coordination and control process of their research]. Government Gazette A23/30.01.