Articles

Al-Dawaimah is an ancient Canaanite Palestinian village, occupied in 1948 by Israel, and belongs to inframediterranean to thermomediterranean thermotype and arid, semi-arid, and dry ombrotype. The study presents, a region rich in many plant vascular, and it is part of the Palestinian coast, North Africa, the Negev and the Sinai desert, in addition to the mountainous hills of Palestine located west of the Hebron, Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The objective is to identify and update the flora and vegetation in the area of Al-Dawaimah and its neighboring areas in west Hebron of Palestine. Methodology: More than 270 plant specimens have been taken from Al-Dawaimah and surroundings areas, using Braun-Blanquet, Van der Maarel and Salvador River Martinez methods to study the flora, and phytosociological plants, and 214 x 10 plants plots distributed in area were studied. Result and discussion: Three different plant communities were identified, in different environments between arid, dry- subhumid ombrotype and infra-thermomediterranean thermotype, and different soils as (carbon substrates as brown ruinsenas and terra rossa lands, limestone and others), where more than 214 species of plants have been found, of which 45 (20.02%) are endemic species, and in Raunkiaer's life system, trees represent were, (86; 40.18% trees), (34; 15.88% shrubs), (51; 23.83% chamaephytes), (10; 4.67% geophytes), (16; 7.47% phanerophytes), and (12; 6.54% hemicryptophytes). Conclusion: In Al-Dawaimah area<b>,</b> syntaxonomical performance of these associations are: <i>Quercetalia ilicis</i> Br.-Bl. ex Molinier 1934. <i>Rhamno lycioidis-Quercion cocciferae</i> Rivas Goday ex Rivas-Martinez 1975. 1. <i>Rhamnus palaestinae- Quercetum calliprini</i> ass. nova., <i>Pistacio</i> <i>lentisci -Rhamnetalia alaterni</i> Rivas-Martínez 1975. 2. <i>Ceratonio siliquae -Pistacetum lentisci</i> ass. nova., <i>Junipero</i> <i>phoeniceae- Pinon acutisquamae</i> A.V. Pérez et Cabezudo in A.V. Pérez et al. 1988 corr. Rivas-Martinez. et al. 2002. <i>Pinetalia halepensis</i> Biondi et al. 2014. 3. <i>Junipero phoeniceae- Pinetum halepensis</i> ass. nova.

This paper presents the results of an ethnobotanical survey carried out in the Peloritani Mounts (NE Sicily). This investigation aims to illustrate the first record known of the traditional uses of plants in this territory through the case study of a small rural suburb named Tipoldo (Messina). The data were collected from 20 informants over the age of 66, who were mainly farmers and shepherds, and were analyzed using two quantitative ethnobotanical indicators. For each plant was reported the Latin name, life form, vernacular name, parts used, ethnobotany category, claimed uses, status, and their relative indexes. Based on semi-structured interviews carried out between February 2017 and May 2018, a listing was compiled of 126 wild plants belonging to 51 families, the most predominant being Asteraceae (19 species) and Fabaceae (15 species). The most common ethnobotanical uses reported are medicinal (30%) and agropastoral use (19%). Among the preparation methods indicated, leaves (39%) were the most commonly used parts of the plants, while the species most mentioned in connection with ethnobotanical applied indexes were: <i>Crepis </i><i>vesicaria</i>, <i>Dittrichia graveolens</i>, <i>Hypochaeris radicata</i>, <i>Salvia Rosmarinus</i> and <i>Clinopodium nepeta</i>. These practices are presently performed only by a few elderly people, who rely on plants solely for a few activities. Furthermore, ethnobotanical studies are fundamental to clear up the knowledge on the traditional plant uses that are still current in this part of Sicily, to preserve this cultural heritage for future generations.