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Introduction: Mental disorders are among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide. Despite the disease burden they cause, including significant direct and indirect impacts on individual¿s health and major social and economic consequences in all countries of the world, it is still one of the most neglected areas of public health. In such a context, the medicinal plants traditionally used to pale these pathologies are presented as a promising tool for future drug development for the management of mental health disorders. The aim of the present study is to analyze the information about plant species used to treat mental disorders in the Catalan linguistic area (CLA) and compare these traditional uses with pharmacological literature in order to evaluate the most quoted taxa and their uses and to provide a basis for further research. Methods: Data have been recovered from the Etnobotànica dels Països Catalans webpage (https://etnobotanica.iec.cat/) and the meta-analytic work carried out in the present study covers 27 prospections performed in different territories between 1990 and 2019. Descriptive statistics and quantitative ethnobotany were carried out and some ethnobotanical indices were calculated. Results and Discussion: The number of use reports analysed to treat mental disorders in CLA is 2,544 spread over 183 taxa belonging to 64 families, being the most cited the Malvaceae (29.36% of use reports), Lamiaceae (16.71%), Caprifoliaceae (7.94%), Rutaceae (7.47%) and Papaveraceae (6.01%). The most used taxa to treat or alleviate the mental disorders have been Tilia platyphyllos Scop. (24.53%), Valeriana officinalis L. (7.47%), Salvia officinalis L. (5.07%), Sambucus nigra L. (4.28%), and Ruta chalepensis L. (3.89%). The flowers or inflorescences (47.68%), followed by aerial part (23.49%), have been the most used plant parts, and tisane the most commonly used pharmaceutical form (78.03%). The most reported use is as sedative with 40.92%, followed by an

In this new era of Mediterranean Botany, the editorial team opened the possibility of submitting manuscripts for evaluation to the ethnobotany/ethnopharmacology section of the journal. We present a compendium of the minimum standards that manuscripts based in field research should comply in order to positively pass to the review process, as a minimum quality requirement. We pay special attention to the contents that should be included in the method and results sections, which are often the ones that present problems of format, style or content. Without being in any way exhaustive in the listed standards, we believe that these recommendations will help authors to present their texts and reviewers to evaluate them.

[EN] Large graminoid species, which often dominate wetland ecosystems with extensive and dense formations, are among the most indicative plants from the first human settlements, where they have been used (even transformed) for various functions ranging from food, cordage, weaving and other utilities. Wetland large graminoid foraging today represents one of the rarest and most archaic customs still in existence, as they have frequently disappeared following changes in society or the disappearance of marshes. These customs have (almost) disappeared in Europe, especially in Italy, following socio-economic changes and wetland reclamation; remaining uses can generally only be found in prehistoric traces. This research in Agro Peligno documents and describes for the first time the remains of these prehistoric uses, which are related to the ancient Peligni (or Paeligni) people. The data collected in the current field study were later compared with food uses of graminoids arising from a large spectrum of archaeological, ethnobotanical, and folkloric literature from other European areas, in a large sense. Problems and outlook regarding the loss of this traditional knowledge are also briefly discussed., [IT] Le grandi specie di graminoidi che spesso dominano gli ecosistemi delle zone umide mediante formazioni che sovente risultano estese e dense, sono tra le piante più indicative nei primi insediamenti umani, dove queste specie sono state utilizzate (anche trasformate) per varie funzioni che vanno dall’alimentazione, all’intreccio, agli utensili ed altre utilità. L’uso nell’alimentazione umana delle grandi specie di graminoidi rappresenta oggi una traccia del retaggio più arcaico ancora esistente. Attualmente, questi usi alimentari sono (quasi) scomparsi in Europa, soprattutto in Italia, a seguito dei mutamenti socio-economici e delle bonifiche delle zone umide, pertanto tali usi restano generalmente relegati alle tracce preistoriche. Questa ricerca condotta nell’Agro Peligno, descrive per la prima volta i resti ancora attuali di questi usi arcaici in Italia, legati all’antico popolo dei Peligni (o Paeligni). I dati raccolti sul campo sono stati confrontati con gli usi alimentari registrati nella letteratura archeologica, etnobotanica e folcloristica di altre realtà di tipo europeo, in senso lato. Nello studio vengono brevemente discussi anche i problemi e le prospettive riguardanti la perdita di questa conoscenza tradizionale.

Background: Despite the benefits that synthetic pesticides have provided in terms of pest and disease control, they cause serious long-term consequences for both the environment and living organisms. Interest in ecofriendly products has subsequently increased in recent years. Methods: This article briefly analyzes the available ethnobotanical evidence regarding the use of Cannabis sativa as a pesticide and offers a systematic review of experimental studies. Results: Our findings indicate that both ethnobotanical and experimental procedures support the use of C. sativa as a pesticide, as remarkable toxicity has been observed against pest organisms. The results included in the systematic review of experimental studies (n = 30) show a high degree of heterogeneity, but certain conclusions can be extracted to guide further research. For instance, promising pesticide properties were reported for most of the groups of species tested, especially Arachnida and Insecta; the efficacy of C. sativa as a pesticide can be derived from a wide variety of compounds that it contains and possible synergistic effects; it is crucial to standardize the phytochemical profile of C. sativa plants used as well as to obtain easily reproducible results; appropriate extraction methods should be explored; and upper inflorescences of the plant may be preferred for the production of the essential oil, but further studies should explore better other parts of the plant. Conclusion: In the coming years, as new findings are produced, the promising potential of C. sativa as a pesticide will be elucidated, and reviews such as the present one constitute useful basic tools to make these processes easier

Cancer is the second cause of death in the world and is foreseen to be responsible for about 16 million deaths in 2040. Approximately, 60% of the drugs used to treat cancer are of natural origin. Besides the extensive use of some of these drugs in therapies, such as those derived from the genus Taxus, a significant number of plants have revealed themselves as useful against cancer in recent years. The field of ethnobotany focuses on documenting traditional knowledge associated with plants, constituting a starting point to uncover the potential of new plant-based drugs to treat or prevent, in this case, tumour diseases and side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. From a series of extensive ethnobotanical prospections across the Catalan linguistic area (CLA), we have recorded uses for 41 taxa with antitumour effects. The two most quoted botanical families are Asteraceae and Ranunculaceae, and the most frequently reported species is Ranunculus parnassifolius, a high-mountain species, which is widely collected for this purpose. The reported species have been used to treat an important number of cancer types, focusing on preventive, palliative, and curative uses, as well as to deal with the side effects of conventional treatments. Comparing our results in CLA with previous data available in the most comprehensive databases of pharmacology and a review of cytotoxicity assays revealed that for the several species reported here, there was no previous evidence of traditional uses against cancer. Despite the need for further analyses to experimentally validate the information presented here, combining traditional uses and phylogenetically-informed strategies to phytochemical and pharmacological research would represent new avenues to establish more integrative approaches, hence improving the ability to select new candidate taxa in cancer research.

Veterinary care is fundamental for animal wellbeing, and so is achieving a comprehensive understanding of traditional ethnoveterinary applications. However, little attention has been paid to it so far in industrialized countries, and in particular in Western Europe. In this context, the present work aims to make a contribution to this issue in the Catalan linguistic area, focusing on the study of plants used, at a popular level, to treat and deal with gastrointestinal, metabolic, and nutritional disorders, which are among the most important issues that affect animals. Data obtained in this study come from the popular knowledge about plants for veterinary purposes from 599 informants, who jointly provided 1,405 reports of use from 148 plant taxa. The most cited species have been Tanacetum parthenium (L.) Sch.Bip. (9.04%), Olea europaea L. subsp. europaea var. europaea (6.26%), and Euphorbia lathyris L. (6.26%). At higher taxonomic levels, the botanical families with more ethnoveterinary applications were Asteraceae (24.48%), Euphorbiaceae (8.33%), and Oleaceae (7.12%). Among the total use reports, 95.02% refer to disorders of the gastrointestinal system, 4.34% to nutritional disorders, and 0.64% to metabolic disorders. Antidiarrheal (18.01%), digestive (16.51%), and laxative (15.80%) have been the most reported veterinary uses. The most used plant parts have been the aerial part (40.50%), the fruit or the infructescence (18.65%), and the flower or inflorescence (16.01%). The main preparation and administration forms reported were tisane (58.69%), followed by direct use (without any specific pharmaceutical form; 21.77%). The global corpus of ethnoveterinary knowledge for the gastrointestinal system disorders in the territory of study is diverse, with some species having a very high cultural value, as indicated by an informant consensus factor very close to 1. Some reported uses were also confirmed after consultation of encyclopedic pharmacological works, although few

Ethnopharmacological relevance Cannabis is one of the most versatile genera in terms of plant use and has been exploited by humans for millennia. Nowadays, Cannabis is the centre of many scientific studies, most of them focusing on chemical composition and medicinal values. While new and varied applications are continuously being developed, the knowledge surrounding less common uses of the plant is slowly disappearing. Aim of the review We have analysed diversity of global data of Cannabis traditional uses, to investigate if certain plant parts are significantly associated with particular Cannabis use. We wanted to uncover potential associations between the plant parts used for the treatment of different body systems and ailments. Materials and methods We have analysed the extensive database of Cannabis traditional uses (CANNUSE). This database contains 2330 data entries of Cannabis ethnobotanical uses from over 40 countries across the world. The dataset was divided into five general groups based on the type of use: medicinal, alimentary, psychoactive, fibre and other uses. Given the abundance of human medicinal uses, detailed analysis was done on the subset of 1167 data entries. We analysed the relationship between 16 body system categories and ailments treated with Cannabis plant parts. We used a Pearson's chi-square and Fisher's exact test, to determine which Cannabis parts are characteristic of treatment for specific ailments. Results In this dataset, the majority of reports were represented by medicinal (75.41%), followed by psychoactive (8.35%) and alimentary (7.29%) use. The most commonly used plant parts were leaf (50.51%), seed (15.38%) and inflorescence (11.35%). We found that different Cannabis plant parts were significantly associated with different uses; the leaf was typically used for medicinal, seed for alimentary and inflorescence for psychoactive use. Regarding the human medicinal uses, most common were reports for treatments of the digestive system

Studies suggesting that medicinal plants are not chosen at random are becoming more common. The goal of this work is to shed light on the role of botanical families in ethnobotany, depicting in a molecular phylogenetic frame the relationships between families and medicinal uses of vascular plants in several Catalan-speaking territories. The simple quantitative analyses for ailments categories and the construction of families and disorders matrix were carried out in this study. A Bayesian approach was used to estimate the over- and underused families in the medicinal flora. Phylogenetically informed analyses were carried out to identify lineages in which there is an overrepresentation of families in a given category of use, i.e., hot nodes. The ethnobotanicity index, at a specific level, was calculated and also adapted to the family level. Two diversity indices to measure the richness of reported taxa within each family were calculated. A total of 47,630 use reports were analysed. These uses are grouped in 120 botanical families. The ethnobotanicity index for this area is 14.44% and the ethnobotanicity index at the family level is 68.21%. The most-reported families are Lamiaceae and Asteraceae and the most reported troubles are disorders of the digestive and nutritional system. Based on the meta-analytic results, indicating hot nodes of useful plants at the phylogenetic level, specific ethnopharmacological research may be suggested, including a phytochemical approach of particularly interesting taxa.

Cannabis is one of the most versatile genera in terms of plant uses and is nowadays the centre of many scientific studies. While much research focus is aimed at developing new plant use applications, its traditional uses, scattered across many publication sources, are gaining less attention and are slowly disappearing. Our database provides an organised standardises open-access information source gathered from 649 publications from all over the world, related to medicinal, alimentary, fibre and other Cannabis uses around the world. The database will serve as a starting point for new research and development strategies based on the traditional knowledge of Cannabis use, in many different scientific fields. Our publication search was carried out in four major online databases - Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar, using the following set of keywords and exact terms: Cannabis AND ("folk medicine" OR "traditional medicine" OR “ethnobotany” OR “traditional knowledge”). During the screening process, we eliminated references that were not 1) published in English language and 2) not published by the end of October 2020, and 3) that did not obtain the information included through ethnobotanical interviews. In order to avoid duplication, information obtained from review papers and books was only used when original research papers could not be found. In further steps, papers containing inconsistencies (e.g., incorrect citations, unclear uses, uses in review papers not matching with the original research papers) were also eliminated. Additional references cited in relevant ethnobotanical papers were added using the snowball method. The data included in this version were obtained only from references written in English, while publications in other languages were up to this point excluded. Ethnobotanical research is often published in lesser known, local journals, which are not written in English, so many additional uses remain to be included in future updates plann

[ES] Presentamos en este trabajo la web `Etnobotánica de los Países Catalanes¿ (https://etnobotanica.iec.cat), una herramienta interactiva para redescubrir el saber popular sobre las plantas. En el momento de hacerse pública, contiene casi 80.000 entradas con nombres de plantas y 55.000 con usos medicinales, y se trabaja para introducir, en los próximos dos años, unas 30.000 entradas de usos alimentarios y unas 30.000 más de otros usos y otras informaciones. Estos datos provienen de más de 1300 entrevistas realizadas a casi 2000 informantes de alrededor de 500 municipios del dominio lingüístico catalán. Los territorios de lengua catalana se encuentran entre las áreas del sur de Europa mejor prospectadas etnobotánicamente, y actualmente sigue habiendo investigaciones activas. La información hasta ahora volcada ha originado un centenar de obras, cuya lista se puede consultar en la misma web. En cuanto a nombres populares, los táxones con mayor diversidad son Zea mays, Achillea millefolium, Cynara cardunculus, Hypericum perforatum y Ceterach officinarum. En cuanto a usos medicinales -los únicos que por el momento figuran-, los táxones más reportados son Thymus vulgaris, Sambucus nigra, Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. europaea, Matricaria recutita y Rosmarinus officinalis. Esta página web es una buena herramienta para el retorno a la sociedad de un saber sobre los patrimonios natural y cultural que de ella proviene, conservándolo y poniéndolo al alcance de las nuevas generaciones y, además, permitirá detectar huecos en la investigación etnoflorística, realizar metanálisis hasta ahora muy raramente hechos en etnobotánica y suministrar información a instituciones y empresas interesadas en desarrollar productos comerciales a base de plantas., [EN] We present in this work the ‘Ethnobotany of the Catalan Countries’ website (https://etnobotanica.iec.cat), an interactive tool to rediscover plant-related traditional knowledge. At the time of released, the website contains almost 80,000 entries with plant names and 55,000 with medicinal uses, and work is underway to introduce, in the next two years, about 30,000 entries for food uses and about 30,000 more for other uses and other information. These data come from more than 1300 interviews with almost 2000 informants from ca. 500 municipalities in the Catalan language domain. The Catalan-language territories are at least among the best ethnobotanically-prospected areas in southern Europe, and there is still ongoing research. The information considered to date has originated around one hundred works, a list of which is available in the website itself. Regarding popular names, the most diverse taxa are Zea mays, Achillea millefolium, Cynara cardunculus, Hypericum perforatum and Ceterach officinarum. In terms of medicinal uses —the only ones currently listed—, the most reported taxa are Thymus vulgaris, Sambucus nigra, Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. europaea, Matricaria recutita and Rosmarinus officinalis. This website is a good tool to feed back to society knowledge about its natural and cultural heritage, while preserving it and making it available for the new generations. In addition, this work will allow researchers to detect gaps in ethnofloristic research, to carry out meta-analyses (rarely conducted in ethnobotany) and to provide information to public and private stakeholders interested in developing commercial plant-based products

Infectious diseases represent, as a group, the main cause of mortality in the world. The most important reasons are multidrug-resistant pathogens, the rapid spread of emerging diseases aggravated by globalization, and the extended reach of tropical and vector-borne diseases resulting from continued climate change. Given the increase in these diseases and the limited effectiveness of antibiotics, traditional knowledge can constitute a useful tool to address these new health challenges. The aim of this work is to analyze extensively the available ethnobotanical data linked to infections and infestations in the Catalan linguistic area, with the intention of depicting the panorama of the folk use of herbal products to address the quoted ailments, preserving the popular plant knowledge and management data. The meta-analytic work performed in the present study covers 29 research studies belonging to different regions throughout the Catalan linguistic area. The medicinal ethnoflora to treat infections and infestations in the Catalan linguistic area includes 326 taxa belonging to 78 botanical families of vascular plants. The informant consensus factor (FIC) was 0.92, and the ethnobotanicity index (EI) was 7.26%. Artemisia absinthium (10.98%; 0.37) and Thymus vulgaris (8.06%; 0.27) are the most quoted taxa and have the highest values of the cultural importance index. The most reported use was antihelminthic (30.15%), followed by internal antiseptic (19.43%) and antipyretic (13.69%). The medicinal importance index shows the relevance of the antihelminthic use (14.23) and also the use against measles (10.19). The information is coincidental with at least one of the comprehensive pharmacological literature sources checked for 47.42% of ethnobotanical uses. These results, centered on the plants used to treat infection and infestation diseases, are the first step toward selecting some of the most interesting species to develop phytochemical and pharmacological studies and suggest

Cannabis is one of the most versatile genera in terms of plant uses and has been exploited by humans for millennia due to its medicinal properties, strong fibres, nutritious seeds and psychoactive resin. Nowadays, Cannabis is the centre of many scientific studies, which mainly focus on its chemical composition and medicinal properties. Unfortunately, while new applications of this plant are continuously being developed, some of its traditional uses are becoming rare and even disappearing altogether. Information on traditional uses of Cannabis is vast, but it is scattered across many publication sources in different formats, so synthesis and standardization of these data are increasingly important. The CANNUSE database provides an organized information source for scientists and general public interested in different aspects of Cannabis use. It contains over 2300 entries from 649 publications related to medicinal, alimentary, fibre and other uses from different geographical areas and cultures around the world. We believe this database will serve as a starting point for new research and development strategies based on the traditional knowledge.

Ethnopharmacological relevance The documentation and protection of traditional knowledge face new challenges in the era of open science. Focusing on medicinal and food uses, we discuss two innovative initiatives in Spain to document, protect and return to the society traditional knowledge. Materials and methods The Spanish Inventory of Traditional Knowledge related to Biodiversity has compiled and published information on the traditional use and management of flora, fauna, fungi, geodiversity, and ecosystems. CONECT-e (www.conecte.es) is an online platform where citizens can document knowledge and uses of wild and domesticated species. We describe the extent of these initiatives in terms of participation and accomplishment, and discuss their complementarities and challenges. Results The initiatives described have fostered the establishment of a common standard for organizing traditional knowledge in databases that facilitate knowledge documentation: 131,066 uses and 152,246 local names have been documented so far. Using open data and copyleft licenses, these initiatives also contribute to the maintenance of traditional knowledge in the commons domain, guaranteeing the free exchange and reproduction of knowledge. However, the extensive focus of these initiatives on data sharing does not necessarily guarantee knowledge holders¿ data sovereignty. Conclusion To protect TEK in a context of open science more efforts should be done to operationalize traditional knowledge holders' rights to data sovereignty.

Wild food plants (WFP) have always been present in our kitchen, although they have not always been given the same importance as crops. In the Catalan linguistic area (CLA), covered in this paper, WFP were of great importance as a subsistence food not only during the years of the Spanish civil war (1936–1939) and World War II (1939–1945), but also long before these periods and in the years thereafter. The CLA has been well studied at the level of traditional knowledge on plant biodiversity, and much of this information is collected in a database by the EtnoBioFiC research group. The aim of this work is to carry out a meta-analysis of the WFP dataset of the CLA (only regarding edible uses, drinks excluded) and to identify the most quoted plants, and the information associated with them. With data from 1659 informants, we recorded 10,078 use reports of 291 taxa (278 of which at specific or subspecific levels and 13 only determined at generic level) belonging to 67 families. The most reported taxa, also with highest cultural importance indexes, are Thymus vulgaris, Foeniculum vulgare subsp. piperitum, Laurus nobilis, Rubus ulmifolius and Mentha spicata. The ethnobotanicity index for food plants is 6.62% and the informant consensus factor, also for food uses, is a very high 0.97, supporting the robustness of the information. The results provided and discussed in this work concern a significant part of the edible resources in the territory considered, which is, often and mainly, underestimated and underutilised. Its consideration could be an opportunity to promote closer and more sustainable agriculture. From the state-of-the-art of this question, it is possible to propose old, in some cases forgotten foods that could be newly introduced onto the market, first, but not only, at a local level, which could be interesting for new crop development in the frame of a valorisation of territorial identity.

Understanding valuation of and access to traditional agroecological knowledge (TAeK) in industrialized countries is key to designing initiatives that can reverse the erosion of TAeK. We explored these issues using a quasi-experimental design. We measured valuation and access to TAeK with a survey before and after an intervention based on a citizen science school program. The participants were Catalan agricultural technical students (N = 173), i.e., rural youth with an interest in agriculture and natural resources. We found that the study population values TAeK quite highly and accesses it relatively frequently outside the classroom. Moreover, the intervention, together with hands-on activities such as home gardening, had a positive effect on how much and how often students valued and accessed TAeK. Education programs such as the one presented here could become allies in agroecological transitions that require TAeK to be accessible and valued by future farmers.

[Background]: Catalonia (in the north east of the Iberian Peninsula) is among the most prospected territories in Europe, from the ethnobotanical point of view. The aim of the present paper is to undertake a global analysis in the area considered, including plants, plant life forms, and ethnobotanical data within a physiographic and geographic framework., [Methods]: Data from 21 ethnobotanical prospection areas in Catalonia were collected, analyzed, and compared, with the focus on plant life forms and geographic divisions., [Results]: A total of 824 taxa constitute the Catalan ethnoflora, and 316 of them are shared by the six physiographic zones recognized in Catalonia. When three major geographic areas are considered (Pyrenean, inland, and littoral), 394 taxa have been reported in only one out of the three areas. Concerning life forms, phanerophytes and chamaephytes together, i.e., those taxa present all through the year, are the most cited (37.12%)., [Conclusions]: This first study constitutes a new approach to ethnobotanical data analysis. The results show the particular importance of plants with a large distribution area and plants with available biomass throughout the year. Apart from this, other kind of plants, e.g., those present in only one territory, are of interest for its originality and sometimes for the local significance.

[Background]: This study has focused on the Garrigues district, one of the most arid regions in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula), which, in general terms, has remained unexplored from the ethnobotanical point of view. This area, of 22,243 inhabitants, comprises 33 municipalities distributed across 1123.12 km2. The natural vegetation is dominated by holm oak forests and maquis called ‘garriga’, the latter giving its name to the district. During the last few decades, this landscape has been transformed by agricultural activities, nowadays in recession. The main aim of this work was to collect and analyse the ethnoflora of this area in order to fill a gap in the ethnobotanical knowledge in Catalonia., [Methods]: The followed methodology was based on semi-structured interviews. The obtained data have been qualitatively and quantitatively analysed and compared with other available ones., [Results]: Data were gathered from 68 interviews involving 101 informants, whose ages range from 24 to 94, the mean being 73.07. The number of taxa reported in this study was 420, belonging to 99 botanical families. The interviewed informants referred 4715 use reports (UR) of 346 useful taxa, 1741 (36.93) of them corresponding to medicinal uses, 1705 (36.16%) to food uses, and 1269 (26.91%) to other uses. This study has inventoried, apart from individual plant uses, 260 plant mixtures, of which 98 are medicinal and 162 food. In the present study, 849 vernacular names with 116 phonetic variants have been collected, as well, for 410 taxa. The informant consensus factor (FIC) obtained for our interviewees is 0.93, and the ethnobotanicity index is 23.47% for the studied area. Apart from plants belonging to the typical Catalan, Iberian or European ethnofloras, the present work contributes information on some plants from semiarid or arid regions, such as Artemisia herba-alba and Plantago albicans, much rarer in the ethnobotany of the quoted areas., [Conclusions]: The results of this study reveal the persistence of ethnobotanical knowledge in the prospected area and the importance of filling the existing gaps in the ethnofloristic sampling of the Catalan territories. The almost complete dataset, now including some arid territories, will allow us to carry out a global analysis and to provide an accurate overview.