Abstract

The investigation focuses on medicinal plants knowledge among ethnic populations in Shaanxi Province, China. Shaanxi Province is well known for its rich plant diversity and ethnic groups, but no ethnobotanical study has been conducted up to now. Field work was conducted from 2008 to 2009, using the methods of informant depiction, semi-structured interviews and informal discussions to obtain traditional medicinal knowledge from local ethnic residents and plant specialist. 94 species belonging to 86 genera in 46 families were used to treat various daily diseases in ethnic populations. 19 species included in 15 families were found only endemic to Shaanxi. Leguminosae (7 species), Compositae and Liliaceae (each 6 species) are predominant species used, followed by Ranunculaceae, Berberidaceae and Umbelliferae. Roots (46 species) were the most frequently used parts of plant, followed by fruit (7 species), seed (6 species) and bark (5 species). Among recorded 94 medicinal plant species, the wild made up 31.9% (30 species) and 68.1% (64 species) were the cultivated from farmers’ land. The 30 wild species out of all 94 are multi-use involving many daily diseases, among which 18 are only endemic to Shaanxi that shows the abundance of ethnobotanical knowledge in ethnic populations of this province. Except for wild indigenous plant species, planting various medicinal plant species in farm land with higher economic value and/or regularly applied in family is an alternative choice to cure disease and at the same time to get income.

Key words: Shaanxi, traditional Chinese medicine, ethnobotany, medicinal plants.