USES OF MEDICINAL PLANTS COLLECTED FROM THE SENALBA CHERGUI FOREST (DJELFA PROVINCE, ALGERIA) BY THE RURAL POPULATION.

This study aims to collect data on medicinal plants collected from Senalba Chergui forest (Djelfa, Algeria) and used in traditional medicine by the local population. An ethnobotanical survey was carried out with 107 informants through direct interviews using a structured questionnaire. The results showed that women (71%) use medicinal plants more than men, older people have more information than the young. Furthermore, the vast majority of users of medicinal plants are illiterate. 32 species belonging to 21 families and 27 genera are identified. The most used plants are Herniaria hirsuta L (93%), Juniperus phoenicea L (87%), Pistacia lentiscus L (86%), Teucrium polium L (80%), Stipa tenacissima L (79%), Pinus halepensis Mill (78%). %), Thymus algeriensis Boiss. et Reult (73%), Artemisia herba-alba Asso (72%), Quercus ilex subsp. Ballota (Desf.) Samp (72%), Juniperus oxycedrus subsp. Rufescens (Link) Deb (64%), Rosmarinus officinalis L (63%), Stipa parviflora Desf (61%), Pistacia terebinthus L (60%) and Rosmarinus tournefortii de Noé (50%). The Lamiaceae and Asteraceae families were dominant the most often, we emphasize that the leaves were the most used (53.13%). The results show that decoction (59.38%) was the most commonly used method to prepare remedies. It appears that gastrointestinal diseases were the most often treated mainly orally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]