Ethnobotanical documentation and quantitative analysis of medicinal plants used in traditional rheumatic diseases treatment in the Setif Region, northeastern Algeria

Authors

  • Ismahane Derafa Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory of medicinal plants applied to chronic diseases, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Setif-1 University Ferhat Abbas, 19000, Algeria.
  • Ahlem Karbab Setif-1, University Ferhat Abbas Algeria
  • Noureddine Charef Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory of Applied Biochemistry, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Setif-1 University Ferhat Abbas, 19000, Algeria.
  • Seddik, Khennouf Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory of Phytotherapy Applied to Chronic Diseases, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Setif-1 University Ferhat Abbas, 19000, Algeria.
  • Nour El Houda Djellaoudji Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory of medicinal plants applied to chronic diseases, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Setif-1 University Ferhat Abbas, 19000, Algeria.
  • Hadil Hettouche Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory of medicinal plants applied to chronic diseases, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Setif-1 University Ferhat Abbas, 19000, Algeria.
  • Mounira Merghem Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory of medicinal plants applied to chronic diseases, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Setif-1 University Ferhat Abbas, 19000, Algeria.

Abstract

Background: This ethnobotanical study documents and analyzes traditional medicinal knowledge in the Setif region of northestern Algeria.

Methods: Data were collected from 310 informants, including herbalists, using semi-structured interviews. Quantitative ethnobotanical indices, frequency citation (FC), the use value of species (UVs), the fidelity level (FL), informant consensus factor (ICF), informant agreement ratio (IAR), were applied to assess the cultural importance and reliability of recorded species.

Results: The analysis identified 67 medicinal plant species belonging to 37 botanical families, among which Lamiaceae were the most represented. Seeds are the most used parts (31%) while majority of the preparations were prepared as powder, poultice, and maceration (29%, 18%, and 15%, respectively). Lepidium sativum L. and Zingiber officinale Roscoe were the most frequently cited plants, with citation frequencies of 14% and 12%, respectively, and a fidelity level of 100%.  The calculated IAR values revealed that 18 species out of 67 have maximum values equal to 1.The ICF for rheumatic diseases treated by the local population showed a maximum value of 0.916; this category of diseases was treated with all the species identified in the surveys (67 species).

Conclusions: The obtained results represent a source of information concerning the medicinal flora of the region and could eventually constitute a database for further investigations aiming at inventorying all the medicinal flora of all regions of Algeria and exploring their composition.

Keywords: Rheumatic diseases; Ethnobotanical study; Medicinal plants; Quantitative analysis; Algeria.

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Published

2026-06-03

How to Cite

Derafa, I. ., Karbab, A., Charef, N., Khennouf, S., Djellaoudji, N. E. H., Hettouche, H. ., & Merghem, M. . (2026). Ethnobotanical documentation and quantitative analysis of medicinal plants used in traditional rheumatic diseases treatment in the Setif Region, northeastern Algeria . Ethnobotany Research and Applications, 34, 1–17. Retrieved from https://www.ethnobotanyjournal.org/index.php/era/article/view/8034

Issue

Vol. 34 (2026)

Section

Research

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