An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants in Marmaris (Mu˘ gla, Turkey) Bahar G ¨ urdal, S - ¨ ukran K ¨ ult ¨ ur n _ Istanbul University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, 34116 Beyazıt- _ Istanbul, Turkey article info Article history: Received 26 July 2012 Received in revised form 3 December 2012 Accepted 8 December 2012 Available online 20 December 2012 Keywords: Traditional medicine Essential oils Ethnobotany Marmaris Turkey abstract Ethnopharmacological relevance: This study aimed to document traditional uses of medicinal plants in the Marmaris district of south-west Anatolia and to compare this information with our current knowledge of plant medicine in Turkey and the Mediterranean countries. Materials and methods: We collected the information through semi-structured interviews with 98 informants (51 men and 47 women). In addition, the relative importance value of species was determined and informant consensus factor (FIC) was calculated for the medicinal plants included in the study. Results: We report the medicinal uses of 64 plant species belonging to 35 families, including the uses of nine essential oils. Most of the medicinal plants used in the Marmaris district belong to the families Lamiaceae (13 species) and Asteraceae (four species). The most commonly used plant species are Salvia fruticosa, Origanum onites, Lavandula stoechas, Mentha pulegium and Satureja thymbra. For the purposes of making essential oils, Salvia fruticosa is the plant species most commonly used. Two of the plants we report on (Liquidambar orientalis, Phlomis lycia) are endemic to Turkey and the East Agean Islands. Sideritis libanotica subsp. linearis is endemic to Turkey, Lebanon and Syria. Thymus cilicicus is endemic to Turkey, East Agean Islands, Lebanon and Syria. For six plant species (Narcissus tazetta, Lagenaria siceraria, Hypericum montbrettii, Phlomis grandiflora var. grandiflora, Polygonum bellardii, Crataegus aronia var. aronia) we report new different ethnobotanical uses not previously reported in Turkey. Conclusions: Some plants are used for medicinal purposes both in Marmaris and in other parts of Turkey and in the Mediterranean countries, either for the same or for different purposes. This paper helps to preserve valuable information that may otherwise be lost to future generations. & 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction With approximately 10,000 species of vascular plants – one- third of them endemic to the country – Turkey has one of the richest floras in the temperate zone (O ¨ zhatay et al., 2009, 2011; S - ekercio˘ glu et al., 2011). Plant diversity is especially high in the Mediterranean-type vegetation of south-west Anatolia (Byfield et al., 2010). While numerous ethnobotanical studies have been published in Turkey (Cakilcioglu and Turkoglu, 2010; Cakilcioglu et al., 2011; Fujita et al., 1995; Sezik et al., 2001; K¨ ult ¨ ur, 2007) and much has been written about medicinal plants in Mediterranean countries (Gonza ´ lez-Tejero et al., 2008), traditional uses of med- icinal plants in Marmaris have not reported. Given that traditional medicinal uses of plants have been the basis for some of our most important pharmaceutical products (Balick and Cox, 1996), much is to be gained from a better knowledge of traditional plant medicines in this species-rich part of Turkey. The objective of this study was to collect and to preserve for future generations information about traditional plant medicines in the Mu˘ gla province of south-west Anatolia. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Study area The study area was the Marmaris district with its 13 villages, located in the Mu˘ gla province of south-west Anatolia. The Marmaris district is composed of 866 km 2 characterized by highly diverse Mediterranean-type vegetation and is located within the ‘Bozburun and Datc - a Peninsulas’ Important Plant Area (IPA). The whole IPA supports an exceptional diversity of lowland Mediterranean habitats (notably limestone and serpentine maquis, forest and cliff habitat) and supports a very rich flora. The bulk of the Bozburun & Datc - a Peninsulas IPA was declared a Special Protected Area on 20 October 1990, due to its exceptional biological and historic significance (Byfield et al., 2010). The study area also has a national park. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jep Journal of Ethnopharmacology 0378-8741/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2012.12.012 n Corresponding author. Tel.: þ90 212 440 00 00/13576; fax: þ90 212 440 02 75. E-mail address: s_kultur@istanbul.edu.tr (S - .K¨ ult ¨ ur). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 146 (2013) 113–126