Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants causing miscarriage in the Oued Souf region

Abstract

Miscarriage is a relatively common experience but that doesn't make it any easier. The use of plants for abortion is also frequent in Algeria. Our study aimed to identify the medicinal plants used to cause miscarriage in El Oued province. An ethnobotanical survey was undertaken in six municipalities: El Oued center, Reguiba, Hassi Khalifa, Gummar, Debila and Magran. By using semi-structured interviews with 174 women of different ages, the result was analysed using XL version 2013 and the ethnobotanical indices were calculated such as: Relative frequency of citation (RFC), Use value (UV), Informant consensus factor (Fic), Family importance value (FIV) and Rahaman similarity index (RSI). The results showed that the local populations use 55 plants belong to 32 different families for miscarriage purpose; the family that are most cited are Lamiaceae. The highest RFC value was registrated for Salvia rosmarinus Spenn. signifcantly higher use value (UV) among the population of El-Oued. the most used part of the plants was leavs followed by stem, seed and Aerial part, Whole plant, root, Fruit, Flowers, Rhizome, Bulb and Peels and Juice and the most used method of preparation was the decoction, and with another component Vaginal suppository, In equal proportion cataplasm and powder. Women are not professionally inactive recorder the high value with. The people surveyed live in urban. This survey will help, to identify high valued medicinal plant species in the locality for further drug discovery. Medicinal Plants with high use value should be subjected to comprehensive phytochemical studies for further drug discovery.