Ethnopharmacobotanical Remarks on the Province of Chieti Town (Abruzzo, Central Italy)

An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in the year 1997-1998, in the neighbourhood of the town of Chieti in the Abruzzo region (Central Italy). The information recorded in this paper has been collected by interviewing people born in the area, or who have lived there for many years, and whose knowledge of the medicinal or domestic use of plants represents a personal patrimony uninfluenced by other sources. About 80 species claimed as medicinal (not only in human therapy but also, for example, in veterinary use) and belonging to 43 families are recorded; only the use of the plants identified with certainty is reported. The study pointed out that the heritage of medicinal popular use of such plants, in spite of pharmaceutical technology, is still alive, not only in the memory of the elders and farmers, and that nowadays home-made remedies for simple diseases are still often used: Moreover, the uses of these plants are not only limited to therapeutic purposes, but also extend to domestic and surviving craft activities.